You may or may not have been expecting a package, but still got text message, email or call with a tracking number, or were told that a package was either delayed or undeliverable.
These unexpected communications are all part of a larger scam, the Federal Communications Commission warns, and have only grown as more people have shifted to shopping online since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Federal Trade Commission reported that the "fake package delivery problems" text message scam was one of the top-reported text message scams of 2022. Scammers send these texts to impersonate the U.S. Postal Service, FedEx, or UPS, and attach a link to a website may look legitimate, but is not.
People who opened the link reported they were told to pay a small “redelivery fee,” which was just a trick to get the person's credit card number, and sometimes personal information, like their Social Security numbers. Text-related scams have already cost American consumers $330 million in losses, the FTC reports.
Each major package carrier like United States Postal Service, FedEx, UPS and Amazon have issued warnings that impostors are using this method to trick unsuspecting people into handing over their personal information, and offer advice on how to avoid the scam.
Tips from FedEx
FedEx states on its website that the company does not request and personal information or account credentials from consumers via email, mail, or text. FedEx offers these tips:
- Do not engage with the sender who sent the suspicious email, and watch out for misspellings in the website or email addresses, like fedx.com or fed-ex.com and general grammatical errors, exclamation points and excessive capitalizations in the message.
- Keep the latest versions of their FedEx Mobile App and report fraud at abuse@fedex.com, 1-800-GoFedEx or 1-800-463-3339.
Tips from UPS
UPS offers up advice on how to deal with various scam scenarios on their website, and also recommends staying alert where messages are like to come from when being contacted by the company.
- Phone calls will come from 1-833-242-1931.
- Texts will come from 94601, 69877, 48515 or 52892.
- Emails will come from the following email addresses: accountconfirm@ups.com, mcinfo@ups.com, pkginfo@ups.com, customer-notifications@ups.com, auto-notify@ups.com, emailinfo@ups.com, invoice-notification@ups.com, donotreply@ups.com, ups@emails.ups.com, ups@upsemail.com UPSAdministrationSupport@ups.com, or no.reply@upsbilling.ups.com.
- Report fraudulent emails or texts at fraud@ups.com.
Tips from USPS
USPS recommends that consumers never click the link in the suspicious email or texts, and take the following steps to ensure their personal information is kept safe:
- Copy the body of the suspicious text message without clicking the link and report it to spam@uspis.gov.
- In the email, also provide your name, screenshot of the text message showing the phone number of the sender and the date sent.
- Include relevant details in your email, like if you clicked the link, lost money, provided any personal information, or if your credit was impacted.
- You can also use USPS Text Tracking, to monitor packages by texting 2USPS (28777) with your tracking number.
Tips from Amazon
Amazon recommends shoppers stay aware of their orders and stay aware of their order history so they don't fall for this scam. Also, be on the lookout in case the text message or email they received is legitimate.
- Amazon occasionally sends emails with an attachment, and the attachments linked should read, "Attachments(s) protected by Amazon."
- Legitimate Amazon websites have a dot before "amazon.com" such as http://"something".amazon.com. They do not send emails with links to an IP address such as http://123.456.789.123/amazon.com, which is most likely a phishing attempt.
- Any message that requests payment information not linked to an Amazon order you placed or an Amazon service, asks you to install software on your device, is full of grammatical errors, or has a forged email address that looks like it is from Amazon, is most likely a scam
- While some departments at Amazon will calls customers, Amazon never asks people to disclose or verify sensitive personal information, or offer an unexpected refund.
- Consumers should also watch out for and report "brushing" scams where they receive a package they didn't order. According to Amazon, these scams occur when bad actor sends packages to publicly available names and addresses. The Better Business Bureau warns that these scams indicate that a third-party seller has your personal information like name, address and phone number, and intends to use it to make it appear you wrote a glowing review on the item as a verified buyer.
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Report the scam to government entities
- Federal Trade Commission − You can forward the text message to 7726 (SPAM) which will also help your wireless provider block messages in the future. You can also file a complaint online at ftc.gov/complaint.
- If you are the victim a crime and have lost money or your personal information, file a report with your local law enforcement, and the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at https://www.ic3.gov/complaint.
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