Christmas is coming and we are all anxious to have packages arrive to our loved ones before the big day. But scammers continue to take advantage of our concern by sending phishing emails and texts, as the Better Business Bureau recently warned the public (https://www.bbb.org/article/scams/16460-scam-alert-shipping-trick-fools-holiday-shoppers).
We are all susceptible to receiving phishing messages.
This morning I receive the following email in my inbox:
While this one is easy to spot as a scam, if you were hoping that a package that you had sent through the U.S. Postal Service would arrive at its destination on time you might jump to clicking on the suggested link to “enter your correct address and pay the new shipping costs (1.60 USD) …”
By taking a breath and checking out the email, you can
easily find the fishy parts of it. First, the from email address is from a “freshesk.com”
with words like “support” and “newaccount” embedded in the email address. This is
not an address from “usps.com.”
At the bottom, is an email address listed from a “hotmail.com”
account. “Official” messages from Hotmail accounts should be considered
suspicious on their face.
And finally, on hovering the cursor over the “COMPLETE
DELIVERY” link reveals another dodgy web address.
The logic of the email is suspect if you take a few
moments to think about it. The Postal Service does not send emails or text
messages for individual parcels sent through their system. If you send a package
via Priority Mail Express, Priority Mail, First-Class Package Service, or
Retail Ground, USPS Tracking is included. The package is assigned a tracking
number which you can use to track its progress through the USPS web site.
The suggestion that an additional charge is needed to
correct the address delivery probably is an attempt to collect your credit card
information for spurious charges later on.
As with most phishing emails and texts, this email hopes
that it looks authoritative and official enough that you will act without
thinking. While most of us probably understand, being aware that this scam is
going around will help you to prevent this scam from harming you. And passing
this information to your friends and family will help them to protect
themselves.
USPS:
https://faq.usps.com/s/article/Scams-Scheme-Alerts
USPS information on tracking a package:
https://www.usps.com/ship/mail-shipping-services.htm
AARP Fraud Watch Network:
https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2019/package.html?intcmp=AE-FWN-LIB3-POS7
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