Buying and selling online has now become a more than widespread habit: just a click, a registered account and an account or card enabled for money transfer and everything we need can arrive at our home in a few days. The same is true for i Christmas Gifts, which many conveniently buy on the Internet.
Taking advantage of the consumption boom typical of this period, they decided not to go on vacation the “suspended package” scammers which, after the first scams completed in April, have returned to strike again.
How the Christmas gift scam works
After the first reports on the part of some users, it was enough to do some research to discover that the scammers of the suspended package are back to strike again.
But how does the Christmas gift scam? Taking advantage of the classic smishing attempt, the scam aims to make those who – recently or habitually – buy online fall into error.
Practically:
- the user who purchases online (or who bought Christmas presents on the Internet this month) receives a sms which, apparently, seems to be that of a company that deals with shipping services (Poste, Gls, Bartolini etc.);
- the message text explains that a parcel in stock in the company’s warehouses, waiting to be picked up;
- to retrieve the “blocked” package, the recipient of the same is asked to click on a link (shown in the sms) and to enter the necessary data to be able to register the withdrawal.
The link, however, is forged and – once the victim has clicked on the link – the fraud can be completed. The link will indeed allow scammers to steal sensitive data and your most important credentials (such as banking, credit cards, etc.), thus emptying the accounts of those who, unfortunately, have not recognized the fraud in no time at all.
Gls warns: “Attention, danger of scams”
On the fake sms scam clears account he also warned Gls, who left the warning on the official website: “Attention, danger of scams”.
“There have been attempts of fraud with the unauthorized use of the Gls brand using SMS communications that seem to come from our company – reads the notice -. The messages in question, apparently sent from a GLS account, invite users to click on a fictitious link and refer to deliveries in stock requiring payment. We remind you that GLS does not send emails or sms requesting payments through links pointing to online sites. We therefore invite our customers and recipients not to release and communicate personal or banking data “.
Online scams, some more information …
It is not the first time, unfortunately, that cases of online scams are reported to the editorial staff of QuiFinanza.
Here, for example, we talked about how phishing works and how to defend yourself (with some more details on numbers of online scams in the pandemic).
Here, then, we have explained to you how to recognize fake text messages that empty your account.
In general, however, the advice is to be very careful when it comes to emails, sms or messages of any kind that invite you to click on external links. In these cases, just contact official sources to get more information on the request arrived, and then call the company’s customer service or consult the website.
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