USPS Warning Massachusetts Residents of Dangerous Parcel Text Scam

It's the holiday season and Christmas is less than a week away. Massachusetts residents are hopefully getting in their last-minute shopping.

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While many people are shopping in stores throughout the state like Boston, Springfield, Worcester, and everywhere in between, there are quite a few people who are placing online orders to check off those folks on their holiday shopping lists. With all of the online orders being made and packages coming in the mail it can be hard to keep track of which items you have received and what's still to come. Add to that, there are scammers out there who are taking advantage of the hectic holiday shopping season by trying to steal your financial information.

Massachusetts Residents Need to Beware of 'Smishing' Text Scams This Holiday Season

I recently received a text from what was labeled as U.S. Customs and the number was from +63 962 853 0041. The message stated that my parcel couldn't be cleared due to an invalid zip code. I know my wife has been doing online shopping lately but I knew this had to be a scam (she confirmed that it was). Below is the text I received.

U.S. Customs: You have a USPS parcel being cleared, due to the detection of an invalid zip code address, the parcel can not be cleared, the parcel is temporarily detained, please confirm the zip code address information in the link within 24 hours. (Please reply with a Y, then exit the text message and open it again to activate the link, or copy the link into your Safari browser and open it) The US Postal team wishes you a wonderful day!

This type of scam is known as "smishing." According to the United States Postal Inspection Service (an official website of the United States government), smishing is a form of phishing that involves a text message or phone number. Victims will typically receive a deceptive text message that is intended to lure the recipient into providing their personal or financial information. These scammers often attempt to disguise themselves as a government agency, bank, or other company to lend legitimacy to their claims. USPS utilizes the 5-digit short codes to send and receive SMS to and from mobile phones.

What Do the Criminals Want from Potential Scam Victims? 

The USPIS states that criminals want to receive personally identifiable information (PII) about the victim such as: account usernames and passwords, Social Security numbers, date of birth, credit and debit card numbers, personal identification numbers (PINs), or other sensitive information. This information is used to commit other crimes, such as financial fraud.

Keep in mind, that the USPS would never initiate dialogue by text or any other form of communication. The initiation between parties has to be made on your end. That's something to keep in mind when receiving these bogus texts. You can learn more about how to avoid and identify these types of scams by going here.