Suzanne Potter, producer/reporter, California News Service, a bureau of Public News Service.
Many people in California are still expecting holiday packages this week and the U.S. Postal Service is warning customers not to fall for “smishing” scams.
John Hyatt, strategic communication specialist for the United States Postal Service, said smishing is the practice of sending fake text messages to smartphones asking users to click on a link to resolve a ZIP code or other issue with a pending package. He warns personal data is what the sender is after.
“Basically criminals trying to obtain personally identifying information about a person, such as accounts, usernames, passwords, dates of birth, credit card numbers, things like that,” Hyatt outlined.
The Superior Court of California in Sacramento recently issued a warning about a different kind of smishing scam where fraudsters claim to be officers of the court and falsely claim the victim’s car was caught on camera speeding through a school zone, then offer a link to settle it without a court appearance.
Smishing texts can be relentless this time of year and Hyatt stressed you should never follow the message prompts.
“When you get a suspicious text message, if you click on those links, it will take you to a website that could be downloading onto your phone,” Hyatt explained. “Once you submit that information then they use it for nefarious purposes.”
In 2020, the Internet Crime Complaint Center reported more than 240,000 victims of smishing, phishing and other fraudulent schemes, costing more than $54 million, with the average person losing about $800.
