The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has issued a warning over a phishing scam in the form of a text message pretending to come from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
“Be on the lookout this holiday season. Reports are being made of scammers sending text messages where they pretend to be the U.S. Postal Service asking for redelivery fees,” NBC News reported earlier this month.
“Messages saying things like, ‘You’ve just won $1,000, click here to claim,’ are easy to identify as spam. But these new messages from scammers are saying they are from the Post Office,” the report continued.
A phishing scam is circulating around the Madison community in the form of a text message pretending to come from the USPS. https://t.co/q5hcuyhYRW
— NBC15 News (@nbc15_madison) November 12, 2022
This comes after 14 people reached out to the Southwest Wisconsin Better Business Bureau to report the scam text messages.
Ann Soderman of Dalton was unfortunate enough to get caught in this scam when she had to deal with package mishaps.
”There are roads around that have similar names and similar numbers so sometimes we do get somebody else’s email and it’s just a simple human error,” said Soderman, who lives in rural Wisconsin.
She thought the text was legitimate because the website attached to it looked very similar to the actual USPS website. But once the suspicious website asked for her credit card information, Soderman pumped the brakes.
BBB Regional Director Tiffany Schultz said that it’s easier to fall for these phishing scams during the holidays because people are more busy or distracted.
”None of us are immune to being targeted by a scammer so we all need to be vigilant, we all need to be paying attention to the scams or text messages that we’re getting,” Shultz said. ”This is the holidays. This is a scammers Christmas. They’re taking advantage of every opportunity they can.”
The BBB website offers tips to avoid falling victim to the phony USPS phishing scam.
“Watch out for texts, calls or emails about a missed delivery,” the website stated. “Legitimate delivery services usually leave a ‘missed delivery’ notice on your door. If you receive a missed delivery notice, examine the form carefully to make sure it is authentic and only then follow their instructions. Keep track of what you’ve ordered, so you have a better idea of what is coming and when. Don’t click on any links; go to the delivery carrier’s website directly or log in and use the retailer’s tracking tools.”
