Package delivery scams have been making the rounds for years. And they grow in number during the holiday season. The scammers surely know that our gift-giving culture leads to a higher number of shipments, and that increases their scams’ chances of working. Let’s go over the details of these scams, so you have a better chance of spotting and dodging them:
The Basics
A package delivery scam will try to convince you that something couldn’t be delivered to you. Posing as a real shipping company, it will try to get you to click a link or pay a fee, in order to resolve the issue. But everything is fake, and when a victim cooperates, their money or identity or computer is at risk. Check out the examples below:
These scams can arrive by email, text message or even as a phone call. However they arrive, you must not cooperate with them!
- Don’t click any link
- Don’t dial any number found in the mesage
- Don’t offer any payment information
- Don’t sign in or enter any password info
- Hang up the phone if a caller sounds suspicious
- Don’t call them back (if you receive a voicemail)
- Don’t text back
- Don’t unsubscribe!
How to Recognize
These scams are very clever and convincing. They often steal and re-use the logos of legitimate companies, so you have to look past “USPS“, “DHL” and “UPS” for more important details.
Please also realize that these scams are easier to spot on a larger screen. If you are not sure about something on your small phone screen, move to a computer for better scrutiny! Be alert for:
- Bad grammar, misspellings, or oddly shaped/formatted graphics and text
- Texts from long unexpected phone numbers (big companies will text from short codes)
- Emails from inappropriate domains, like Yahoo.com or USsPScom.com
- URLs that look off, like www.trackmystufff.com or bit.ly/uspsdeliveryerror
- Scare tactics and claims of urgency
- Request of payment for small surprise shipping fees
- Details about the shipment are too vague or very specific (about something you know you did not order)
To make scam recognition more difficult, though, please realize that email addresses can be faked and CallerID can be falsified. Package delivery scams may use spoofing to show a real-looking email address. Incoming calls could actually show “USPS” or some other important-sounding name. Be extremely dubious toward any unexpected messages or calls to action!
All that said, there are sometimes legitimate issues with delivering packages. If you truly miss a delivery, expect a doorhanger at your entryway. Or be prepared to go to the shipper’s website, to find a trustworthy number to call. Here are your legitimate shipping company websites: USPS, UPS, Fedex, DHL.
How to Deal with Delivery Scams
If you spot such a scam:
- Delete it or mark it as spam/phishing
- Do not respond or call the number
- Call the shipping company, using a number from their real website, to verify and discuss
If you have fallen victim to this scam:
- Contact your bank ASAP (if you entered in any financial info)
- Change your email’s or shipping account password
- File a police report (if you lost any money)
- Have your computer checked out and cleaned (if you permitted a scammer to remotely connect to your device)
And if you want to go the extra mile, you may report these phishing attempts. All of these authorities will accept your report: