As people from all around the world rely more on digital channels now, an inevitable surge in phishing activities has been reported. The recent high-profile scam to go viral is Royal Mail Text Scam that asks the users to follow a link to pay for deliveries.
With increase in usage of digital channels, fraudsters are having ease in fulfilling their ill purposes. Internet is full of fake websites and thousands of people are falling prey to them. Most of the scammers follow the common tactic of sending false text messages and fake emails attacked with suspicious links. In most of cases, scamming websites imitate giant companies to gain the attention of people.
In a similar case, users from the UK are receiving a text saying a package is being held and ask for a shipping fee so the item can be delivered. As always the text is followed by a link that leads you towards a suspicious site.
What Is Royal Mail Text Scam
Royal Mail Text Scam is a fake message that is being sent to users in the UK. This text message asks the users to send a shipping fee against a package that is being held by them. Here is an example of this scam message: “Royal Mail: Your package has been held and will not be delivered due to a £1.99 unpaid shipping fee.”
After being massively spread, Royal Mail has responded to it. Royal Mail has asked its customers to beware of it and not to click or provide any important credentials to them. The reason why most of the users are forced to believe it is the name of Royal Mail attached to it.
Royal Mail Dispatch Fee Text Scam
If you haven’t received such a text message so far, then here is how to spot this scam:
Though it is difficult to spot scam messages as scammers are adopting sophisticated techniques but they mostly use addresses like ‘RoyalMail Delivery’ and [email protected]. After examining the URL carefully you will realize that none of the addresses provided are a legitimate source.
Once you click on the link, you will be directed to a fake website where you will be asked to provide your phone number. Though nothing will happen right after providing the number but after few days you will receive anonymous calls saying.
“Someone is attempting fraudulent activities on your accounts”. The scammers are so professional that they will even convince you to provide your account details. Once provided, the scammers will hijack your account.
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Text From Royal Mail To Pay
The Fake Royal Mail email and messages are said to be reported 1700 times. It means that the scam is widely spread on internet. In one of its recent Tweets Action Fraud has warned the users in following words:
“Watch out for these FAKE Royal Mail emails. They’ve been reported to us over 1,700 times.
We followed the link in one of the emails and here’s where it leads…
Help us remove malicious emails and websites like these by forwarding suspicious emails to: [email protected]”.
Royal Mail has also encouraged the users to report the scam. You can now file a complaint against these fake messages and emails at [email protected] or you can also forward scam texts to 7726 to report directly to Ofcom.
For further investigation you can also report this scam to Police so that such scams will be investigated.
Bottom Line
Phishing Emails and text messages have become common these days. So, practice extreme caution if you have received any such message. Furthermore, you can also directly contact Royal Mail on their official email address to know the legitimacy of these emails.