It's amazing how creative technologies' crooked side can be and the Google Security blog at the link below goes deep into how crooks are using False Base Stations (FBS) to send you SMS messages trying to get you to fall for their schemes. The FBS broadcasts itself as an LTE/5G cellular station, gets your phone to back down to its 2G (early 1990s cellular) connection, and then uses 2G's weaknesses to inject the messages. All this bypasses the protections included with your wireless carrier.
Android 12 (~ 3 years ago) introduced the ability to turn off 2G completely, as seen in the screenshot of my Pixel 7 below. I did that because I could, not that I'm the type that clicks on things just to see what would happen. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a similar turn-off switch for iPhones.
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