Many folks are still expecting holiday packages this week, and the United States Postal Service is warning customers not to fall for what are known as smishing scams.
Smishing, said John Hyatt – a strategic communication specialist with the USPS – is the practice of sending fake text messages to smart phones, asking users to click on a link to resolve a zip code or other issue with a pending package.
He warned that personal data is what the sender is after.
“Basically, criminals trying to obtain personally identifying information about a person,” said Hyatt, “such as accounts, user names, passwords, dates of birth, credit card numbers – things like that.”
In 2020, the Internet Crime Complaint Center reported over 240,000 victims of smishing, phishing, and other fraudulent schemes – costing over $54 million, with the average person losing about $800.
Smishing texts can be relentless this time of year, but Hyatt said you should never follow the message prompts.
“When you get a suspicious text message,” said Hyatt, “if you click on those links, it will take you to a website that could be downloading onto your phone – and once you submit that information then they use it for nefarious purposes.”
Hyatt said you will only receive text messages from the USPS if you have gone online and registered for such services.
“You can sign up to receive text messages about a tracking number,” said Hyatt, “or you can go into the tracking service and put the number in and then ask for text message updates, or even an email update on usps.com.”
He said the USPS informed delivery program is being used by millions of Americans to receive legitimate messages about what packages are on the way.
Go to the USPS.com website for more information.
Isobel Charle, Oregon News Service
