LANSING, Mich. — As Americans ramp up their online shopping during the holiday season, residents are being warned about scammers who claim to be the United States Postal Service (USPS) over text message.
Fraudulent smishing text messages are on the rise this holiday season. Smishing is when a scammer sends a text message pretending to be from a trusted entity. The scammer then entices the victim to provide a password, account number, debit card or other personal details.
USPS smishing scams will often alert the victims to a fake package delay and require victims to create a purchase for updates.
According to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, it's important for people to recognize when these scams are happening and avoid giving out any personal information.
"It is critically important for people to recognize a scam like this and avoid giving out their personal information. Clicking on fraudulent links can lead to identity theft, the installation of malware on your device, or it could lead to your contact information being sold to other bad actors who are also looking to take advantage of unsuspecting victims," stated Nessel.
To avoid smishing scams, residents should protect their personal information by doing the following:
- Don't share your phone number unless you know the person or organization well.
- Don't assume a text is legitimate because it comes from a familiar phone number or area code. Spammers use caller ID Spoofing to make it appear the text is from a trusted or local source.
- Don't provide personal or financial information in response to the unsolicited text or at a website linked to the message.
- Don't click on links in a suspicious text; they could install malware on your device or take you to a site that does the same.
- Don't reply, even if the message says you can "text STOP" to avoid more messages. A response tells the scammer or spammer your number is active and can be sold to other bad actors.
- Never follow a text's instructions to push a designated key to opt out of future messages.
Red flags of a smishing attempt include the sender’s email coming from a public domain instead of the organization's domain, the suggested link does not match the public facing website for the USPS and there are typos throughout.
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