Christmas is upon us and couriers are busy with parcels that a large number of people are waiting for. The situation is used by scammers who try to lure people money by sending fraudulent SMS messages and emails. According to the police, these frauds are spreading massively in the run-up to Christmas.
The bag of fraud broke before Christmas. “Christmas phishing and smishing is going on a massive scale,” police warn. The procedure is mostly the same, only the details differ. Fraudsters take advantage of situations where people make bulk purchases on the Internet and expect the package to be delivered within the next few days.
In an SMS message or email, they impersonate the courier and ask for an additional payment of a smaller amount for the package. After clicking on the link, a payment gateway will appear, where the person enters their payment card details, thus opening the door for scammers to their funds. At first glance, it is sometimes difficult to detect that it is a fraud.
For example, Czech Post currently logs a number of fraudulent messages being sent on its behalf. “They inform the customer that his recent purchase cannot be completed due to lack of funds or that his shipment is still awaiting instructions from him. It will be delivered as soon as the costs are paid. Another informs the customer that his package is at their local branch due to an unpaid fee,” the company described three of the current scams.
If you receive such a message, always be wary of the sender. An email address or link should always tell you that this is not your carrier. Fraudulent messages can often also be recognized by the fact that they contain errors or appear to be machine translations.
“Remember that banks, authorities and delivery service providers will never ask you for personal information via SMS,” the police appeal to people. If you are not sure about the authenticity of the SMS or email, contact your mobile operator at the number listed on their official website.
According to the police, the number of Internet frauds is steadily increasing:
TN.cz
