Spam text messages have become more and more of a pest in recent months. I have lost count how many SMS messages I have received, purporting to be sent by Australia Post, telling me that ‘my parcel’ has been sent, or has been received and that I have to click on such-and-such a link to find out more information.

You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that said link will do nothing but leave your smartphone open to attack.

A new, scary one arrived today, purporting to be sent by Medicare. It told me that I had been in close contact with someone who had contracted Omicron and that I had to click on a link to organise delivery of a free PCR test kit.

I called up Medicare on the MyGov website to check if there were any warnings or messages for me. Nothing.

In COVID times, it is easy for people to be spooked by these messages. Think carefully before you click on any links in texts.