While the holiday season nears its end and millions of gifts have already been sent and received, though some may still be trickling in.
If you’re still expecting some packages to be delivered by the United States Postal Service, the agency warns customers be on high alert for scam text messages posing as the USPS.
These bogus messages, often concerning package tracking or delivery, contain “unfamiliar or strange” web links asking for a response from you and may lead to a series of prompts asking you to provide personal or financial information.
The USPS’s warning is simple: “don’t click the link!”.
This kind of scam is known as “smishing” and involves a text message or phone number with a deceptive message to fork out personal information from the recipient.
“These scammers often attempt to disguise themselves as a government agency, bank or other company to lend legitimacy to their claims,” the agency said.
“USPS utilizes the 5-digit short codes to send and receive SMS to and from mobile phones.”
Fraudsters want to convince people to share information like their usernames, passwords, Social Security number, date of birth, credit and debit card numbers or sensitive information.
“This information is used to carry out other crimes, such as financial fraud,” the USPS stated in a release.
While USPS offers free tracking tools, customers are required to register online, initiate a test message and provide a tracking number and will not send messages or emails to customers first.
The agency also does not charge for these services and will not send a link.
“If you did not initiate the tracking request for a specific package directly from USPS and it contains a link: don’t click the link!”
Instead, USPS suggests reporting the message and visiting USPS.com for tracking information and additional resources.
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