TEXT OF BUZZWORD

Hook, line and sinker brings us this week’s Marketplace Money Buzzword: “smishing.”

It sounds and smells like the e-mail scam known as “phishing,” except it happens on your cell phone.

Spammers pretending to be banks or finance sites send a phony text message. You take the bait and send back passwords, social security numbers or other personal information.

Cell phone companies are trying to crack down on smishing through lawsuits. Verizon Wireless reportedly filters more 200 million spam text messages a month, but some manage to wriggle away.

So if the next text message you get seems fishy, don’t bite.