The Better Business Bureau is warning of an increase in fake and fraudulent delivery service messages.
BBB Wisconsin president Jim Temmer says they’ve gotten reports of scammers sending out fake messages implying that you’ve missed a package, or that your shipment has been delayed. Those links will take you to a phony website that will just collect data from you.
“They’re looking for personal information, they’re looking for phone numbers, they might even be looking for bank accounts.”
They won’t stop with just your username and password, Temmer says.
“And you click on that and it’ll take you to a screen, and then they’ll say ‘we have to verify it’s you’ so that sounds legitimate. ‘Please give us your name, address.’ They might ask you those questions like ‘what’s your mother’s maiden name?’ ‘What street did you grow up on?’ All those things that you use for real legitimate accounts as security.”
The issue is those sorts of questions can also be used to break into your other online accounts by attempting to change your password.
Temmer says they’ve seen scammers leave phony ‘missed delivery’ notes on doors to get people to call in to a phony number.
“They might just say ‘What are the times you’re not going to be home? We won’t deliver.’ Now you just told the scammer when you’re not going to be home, so are they going to come home at that point and break in your house? Who knows but you’re giving out information to crooks, which you shouldn’t be.”
If you get a message about a missed or mishandled delivery, call the service provider directly with a trusted number to find out what’s going on.