Now
57
Fri
63
Sat
61
by Paige Meyer
(WSET) — You may want to check your phone and see if you've recently got a suspicious text. It's a scam designed to look like it's coming from the postal service.
It reads 'Postal Notice – You have a package that needs to be delivered, but it has been suspended due to an incorrect delivery address.' The text also has a link to what looks like a US Postal link attached.
"In this case, scammers are using the United States Post Office as a front. People know and trust the US Post Office. They are in uniform and people see them every day. Since most people get mail many days days a week, it is not impossible for a package to get waylaid," said Katie Jennings with the Lynchburg Police Department.
RELATED: Scammers using loopholes to get around 'robocall' prevention tools
Lynchburg Police Department is calling this a phishing scam and says it has no correlation to the actual United States Postal Service.
"Scammers are using information that they get online to reach out to a whole bunch of different numbers, trying to essentially throw out as many hooks as they can until they catch a fish," said Jennings.
Jennings is advising people not to click on the link.
"It's 100% a scam. The United States Post Office, Amazon, Google, a lot of those agencies, are not going to send you a text asking you to update a shipping address that way. You're going to get an email and you're going to be able to verify that information directly through that secure website," said Jennings.
SEE ALSO: 'I believe in God's definition of marriage:' 3 lawmakers respond to same-sex marriage act
Jennings says typically these texts come from people outside the country who use bots to try and contact people in hopes of making money off your private info.
"Honestly, it's kind of like the throwing spaghetti at the wall thing theory. They're just throwing it until something sticks. It's significantly easier to steal money online or over the phone than it would be to say sell drugs," said Jennings.
If you receive a scam text like this, Jennings says the best thing you can do is delete it right away and report it to the FCC.
"I think it should put the community on their toes. People should be aware and they should be vigilant. I think if you have the scamming information, and you share that information with others, the fewer people are going to be victims," said Jennings.

source