Scams during the Coronavirus pandemic rocketed and it’s predicted that scams have gone up by a third. The one we are looking into today is fake delivery scams. There’s a very high chance that you have received one of these before, and that might even be the reason you found this post in the first place if you’re researching it. They are usually an SMS, but sometimes an email, and they pretend to be from a delivery company notifying you that you have missed a package from them. It is very easy to fall victim to these types of scams, especially during the pandemic where people have been ordering more online, so they can catch out even the most tech savvy of people considering they might have a real delivery they are expecting. The message might look something like this:
“DPD – You missed a delivery from us today. To re-arrange collection please click the following link _____”
If you’ve received something similar to this, whatever you do, DO NOT click the link. Even if you do actually have a delivery on the way and it might be real. The best thing to do is to go directly to the website of the shipping company you are expecting a package from and check to see if you did actually miss the delivery.
What do these scams achieve
Their main aim is to get you to click the link which will take you to a form to fill in personal details. The scammers either use these details to access your other accounts if they asked for login details for example, or someone might call you pretending to be from your bank. They use the details they have gained from the form to go through pretend security questions. There is chance that they then proceed to ask you to confirm bank details and once they’ve done this they potentially have access to your bank account and could withdraw your money. The link in the message could also go to a payment page where it makes out that you have to pay to release the package they tried to delivered, and again this would also take money from your account.
Things to look out for
- These type of scam messages usually come from a mobile number. Large companies will never contact you from a mobile number.
- The link in the message doesn’t look quite right. It will not just be a simple link like postoffice.co.uk they usually have extra text in the link or code, for example ‘delivery-scam.com/post-office-co-uk’. It’s very important to never click the link or enter any personal details.
- Check the spelling of the message as sometimes they don’t look quite right or as professional as an official message from a legitimate company.
- The page the link takes you to doesn’t look quite right. They are usually disguised quite well with a copy of the company’s official logo, but if you look closer at the page it won’t look exactly the same as the official website.
What if you have already fallen for it
If you’ve already filled out your details on the form and entered login details, then it’s important to change that password on any other websites you use it on so that they cannot gain access to any of your other accounts. Also it’s important to run a security scan on the device you clicked on the link to make sure you haven’t been infected by any malware. You can also report these types of scams to The National Cyber Security Centre by either forwarding emails to [email protected] or forward SMS’s to 7726 (you can find more information here).
These types of scam are becoming more and more frequent and the chances are that you or somebody you know has received one before. It’s important to remain vigilant and although it can be frustrating as well as time consuming, it’s always best to double check any SMS’s or emails that you receive as you can never be too sure if it is real or a scam.
