You get an email or text message about a package delivery to your address. The message says there’s a problem, and you need to click a link to deal with it.
More times than not, the link will take you to a copycat site run by the scammers that looks just like the US Postal Service, Federal Express, DHL, or UPS website.
If the fraudsters can get you to their look-alike site, they’ll try to get you to give them money or your personal information, or both.
“Sometimes they’re after making a charge to your credit card for a few dollars for a re-delivery attempt,” warned Chester Wisniewski, principal research scientist at the digital security firm Sophos. “Other times they’re after your password for your email. They’ll say, ‘Oh, we need you to log in in order to see the information about your package, and they ask you for your Gmail password, that type of thing.”
Some of these bogus shipping messages include an attachment. Open it and you could load malicious software on your device.
So, what do you do?
“Always go directly to the website of the places where you shop to check on the status of your deliveries and don’t trust anything that’s coming in your email.” Wisniewski advised.
If you get a package delivery message and you’re not sure if it’s for real, call the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline at 877-908-3360. You do not need to be an AARP member to use this free service.
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