– Parcel scams are particularly popular with fraudsters during the pre-Christmas period, when most of us make heavy use of courier companies. Cybercriminals perfectly take advantage of our haste and inattention by impersonating these companies to trick us with, for example, our banking login credentials, and thus steal our money,” says Iwona Prószyńska, an expert at NASK’s Center for Cyber Security and Infrastructure.
Read more
19 entrepreneurs detained for VAT fraud. Invoices for more than a billion zlotys .
Fraud “on a parcel” easiest before the holidays
Before the holidays, scammers are eager to exploit the “undelivered parcel” motif. Information about such a turn of events electrifies us, because it means that someone close to us may not get a gift. It’s all the easier to fall into the scammers’ trap when the communication looks plausible and suggests urgent action.
The most common parcel scams are fake text messages or emails that inform about a supposed underpayment for a shipment or the need to complete address details. They direct to sites that are confusingly similar to courier company websites. These sites are created by criminals to – once we are on them – trick us with our payment card details or online banking login and password.
The parcel scenarios feature, of course, the typical phishing text message emotions, i.e. “do something, or your parcel will go back to the sender,” “update your address details – you only have three hours to do it,” surcharge a small amount.
.
Read more
No more Facebook scams. CERT Poland demands changes from Meta .
How to protect yourself from such attacks?
At the time around Christmas, it’s worth being extra careful not only when you get an alert about an “undelivered package,” but with any unexpected or suspicious messages. What to do?
- Verify the sender of the message: Verify that emails and text messages come from official addresses or numbers. And if you have doubts – contact the company, bank, platform that allegedly sent you a suspicious message by other means.
- Beware of links in a suspicious message: They may redirect you to a site that looks familiar, but is fake and will try to scam you. If in doubt, always go to the company’s site yourself by typing the address into your browser.
- Verify the site’s address especially how you are supposed to enter data there: Criminals often use addresses similar to the real one.
- Pay attention to details: Language errors or unprofessional-looking messages are often a sign of a scam.
- Don’t give out sensitive data: Never share logins, passwords, or payment card details in unverified places.
