Royal Mail text scams have returned, potentially putting sensitive information, including full banking details at risk.
Brits are once again being targeted by official-looking Post Office texts, in which hackers send out texts claiming that a delivery is ready for them, but with a £2.99 fee that needs to be paid before it can be delivered.
The user is then sent to a link that claims to allow them to change their delivery date.
Unfortunately, the scam is extremely convincing, especially because the link frequently redirects people to a website that looks identical to the official Post Office page.
Royal Mail has since introduced a drone delivery service.
Hannah Hart, Digital Privacy Expert at ProPrivacy, says Brits should be on the watch for delivery scams, posting, "SMS phishing, also called smishing, has become a recurring nuisance in 2021. In fact, according to Which?, three in five people have received a fake delivery text in the last year."
"Ultimately, the scammers behind smishing attempts will try to get you to click on a link by preying on your sense of urgency or panic. The fake delivery texts frequently claim that a victim has a package waiting to be collected or an unpaid fee – exactly the thing which might spur a target into clicking a link without taking time to determine if it's legitimate."
Anyone who receives a suspicious email, text message, phone call, or discovers a Royal Mail-branded website that they believe is fraudulent should report it to reportascam@royalmail.com.
Hannah Hart continued, "If you receive any unexpected texts, don't click on or reply to them as they can potentially load malware onto your device or steal your payment details. Instead, go directly to your courier’s site to track your parcel’s progress."
Back in June, Express.co.uk reported a Post Office fraud scam that crippled a number of users.
If you've been the victim of a payment scam, you can request a criminal reference number by reporting the incident to your local police station.
