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Scams with fake websites are designed to trick users out of money and credit card data.
Earlier this week, the police warned of a second big wave with fraudulent SMS , which allegedly come from a parcel service. And that these warnings were bitterly needed, show the current figures. Because the rip-off with the fake parcel delivery SMS including fake links is getting completely out of hand. There are now thousands of people affected in Austria. Many of them are currently contacting the Chamber of Labor (AK).
For this reason, the AK is now also once again urgently warning against these SMS messages to confirm alleged parcel deliveries, which are supposed to be made via a link. People who are misled in this way then end up on fake websites. There, either small amounts of money are to be paid by credit card to receive the alleged package, or “Post” apps are to be downloaded, which then spy out user data.
According to AK Konsumentenberatung, there is an increasing number of inquiries about such SMS from “parcel deliverers” with messages such as “Your parcel will be returned to the sender today. Last chance to reject it” together with a link. However, consumers are often not expected to place a corresponding order in the first place.
Delete these scam SMS immediately
Police warn of a nasty rip-off wave that can be expensive. The SMS come from various mobile phone providers.
Credit card data
“In reality, the criminals’ sole aim is to get hold of credit card data and use it to debit large sums of money,” warned AK consumer protector Jakob Kalina. He also advises to have services for third-party providers blocked by the cell phone provider, in order to additionally prevent unwanted subscription contracts and high costs on the cell phone bill.
How to protect yourself
Consumers are advised not to disclose their phone number on the Internet, if possible, and to block annoying calls or text messages.
Ignore such messages and block their senders.
Do not disclose payment details on unknown websites and do not install apps from unknown sources.
To avoid being locked out of WhatsApp, Signal and Co. with your phone number, the respective accounts should be protected with two-factor authentication.
Has your cell phone number been leaked?
If you want to make sure that your phone number does not appear in any data leaks, you can use the online services https://leakchecker.uni-bonn.de/, https://sec.hpi.de/ilc/search or https://haveibeenpwned.com.
- source: oe24.at/picture: pixabay.com
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