Text scams have been impacting some cellphone users in New York City. 

Phone users have reported that they are getting text messages from their own numbers saying they paid their bill and there is a surprise for them for doing so.  A link is provided, but it is a scam. 

News 12 spoke to Ondrej Krehel, the Vice President of Digital Forensics and Incident Response at SecurityScorecard, He gave some tips on what to watch out for and how the scam happens. 

"Spoofing of the origin of the SMS account… has been there for a while. So, you spoof that name so the authenticity and integrity of that object below, let's say that phone number is different now," said Krehel

Krehel says that users should not click any links sent to them via text message. 

"When you click on that link malware is installed on your phone. That's pretty bad, right. So the best thing is don't click at all. But most of these scams are not that sophisticated to install the malware," said Krehel.

News 12 reached out to Verizon about these scams. A spokesperson says in part, "Verizon has blocked the source of the recent text messaging scheme in which bad actors were sending fraudulent text messages to Verizon customers. In this case, the text messages sent appeared to come from the recipient's own number. However, it's important to keep in mind that attempted fraud using SMS spam is an issue that's been impacting virtually all wireless providers in recent months. We are actively working with others in our industry and with U.S. Law Enforcement as part of an investigation aimed at preventing spam messages as a type of fraud, and that work continues."

Krehel says the best way to prevent the scams is to be alert.