Australians are being urged to be alert to a new Australia Post text message scam, with fraudsters posing as the postal service to steal personal information and money.
The fake text message claims that a package was sent to the wrong address and contains a link to correct the information.
Australia Post has issued an urgent warning to Australians after scammers sent a new wave of text messages pretending to be the national postal service
‘The package you sent has arrived at our warehouse and cannot be shipped due to incorrect address details. Fill in the exact details again and we will send it within 24 hours,” it says.
Australia Post warned customers that the message should be removed immediately.
The Postal Service said they will “never contact anyone via text message or email requesting personal or financial information or payments.”
They urged those waiting for a parcel to use the AusPost app to receive delivery updates as ‘it uses push notifications which cannot be replicated by scammers’.
‘We are seeing increased public awareness about cyber security, but encourage customers to remain alert for signs of a scam, including a non-Australia Post web address, or an unusual sense of urgency or emails asking you to click on a link ‘, says a spokesperson. This was said by an Australia Post spokesperson.
Known as phishing, this scam attempts to trick targets into handing over personal information that can be resold or used to gain access to other accounts.
It is the most common method used by scammers, with losses of just under $2.5 million and over 18,000 incidents reported to Scamwatch in January and February alone.