Australians are being urged to be on high alert as fake text messages about postal deliveries explode ahead of Christmas.
Many Aussies are no doubt waiting for last-minute gifts to arrive in the mail – an assumption scammers are trying to capitalise on.
Cyber criminals have been mimicking legitimate texts about the status of a package, using Australian phone numbers to do so.
In one text message provided to news.com.au, scammers tried to create a sense of urgency by telling the recipient their parcel was going to be returned to sender unless they clicked on a link.
“We’re sorry to let you know that your parcel kept in our depot will be returned,” it read.
“To extend holding period, enter: …”
In another text message, the fraudsters tried to entice the receiver into clicking the URL by saying: “Australia Post: You have undelivered parcel, please reschedule on …”
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Last week, ScamWatch issued a warning about this type of phishing scam, noting that Australians were particularly vulnerable because it is the “gift giving season”.
“If you’ve done some online shopping and are expecting a delivery, be on the lookout for postal delivery scams claiming you had a failed delivery or your details need updating,” the watchdog wrote in a tweet.
They advised anyone receiving these messages not to click on the link.
Some scammers are even able to ‘spoof’ their messages, which is where their texts appear in the same thread as legitimate ones from Australia Post.
According to ScamWatch, online shopping scams have seen Australians lose $8 million so far this year.
Scammers also sent out fraudulent postal messages in the lead up to Black Friday sales in November.
Last year, Australians were also bombarded with thousands of text messages purporting to be able to track their parcels.
The scam was known as the Flubot malware scam, where texts were sent en masse.