Experts warn of increase in ‘smishing’ scams
More than 642 million robotexts are sent every day
(InvestigateTV) — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a warning in late 2023 about fake shipping notification texts and emails.
Michael Martel, a postal inspector at the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), said they’ve seen an uptick in complaints from people nationwide saying they’ve received these bogus messages.
“It’s constant. We constantly hear about this issue,” Martel said. “And that’s why we’ve taken significant steps to sit down with the media, let the public know that those text messages are smishing. They’re not from the postal service.”
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has put out alerts about this scam commonly called “smishing.” Martel said they’re warning customers not to click on the link.
“They are looking for your feedback or you to click on that link that is contained in the text message,” Martel explained. “And they’re looking for your personal identifying information to commit identity theft. To infect your device or computer with malware. Or they might also take you to a link for a payment of some sort, claiming a delivery fee. Know that the postal service does not charge for a re-delivery fee.”
Martel reminded consumers that the USPS does not send texts from strange email addresses.
“It would typically come from a five-digit phone number,” Martel said. “The postal service will not send you a link in a text message. And the postal service will not send you an unsolicited text message. You have to sign up for those alerts.”
It’s not just the federal government these fraudsters are pretending to be. Giulia Porter, Vice President of Robokiller, a spam call and text blocker app, said the “delivery scam” text has been a popular choice for scammers since 2017.
“Really what scammers are doing to try to steal from you via text, is impersonate very well-known shipping companies,” Porter explained.
She said Americans received 78 billion robotexts in the first half of 2023 alone.
Their findings also found that Americans received 1.1 billion robotexts in December related to delivery scams, which Porter said shows more proof that scammers believe text messages are one of the most effective ways to target consumers, especially when the holidays roll around.
“The scam of choice for spammers usually is the one that is most impactful to consumers,” Porter pointed out. “So, you know, just encouraging everyone out there to be on the lookout for those and be quite wary as often as possible when you do receive texts that you know, look like they’re from, you know, a service provider like a FedEx or UPS that you might be expecting a package from.”
Porter said the best ways to combat smishing are:
- Ignore suspicious messages altogether
- Avoid giving out personal information when unnecessary
- Consider using a text blocking app
In addition, the USPS asks those that receive suspected smishing to email and report it to them. Without clicking on the web link, copy the body of the suspicious text message and paste it into a new email. Be sure to provide your name in the email and attach a screenshot of the text message that shows the phone number of the sender and the date it was sent.
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