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Cyber criminals are taking advantage of the pre-Christmas flood of parcels and sending fake parcel notifications via SMS. Anyone who opens the link gets a virus on their cell phone.
The regulatory authority RTR and the shipping giant DHL warn against the fake parcel notifications. Thousands of recipients of such SMS have reported fraud attempts to the authority. DHL warns that the scammers often pretend that the SMS comes from DHL. The messages say that an undelivered package is waiting to be picked up. In addition, there is a hyperlink that is supposed to contain further information about the alleged shipment. However, anyone who opens the link ends up on a fraudulent website where the criminals either harvest sensitive data such as credit card information or foist computer viruses on their victims.
In view of the “drastic increase” in such fraud attempts in recent weeks, RTR CEO Klaus M. Steinmaurer advises: “Ignore these text messages! Do not click on the link contained under any circumstances!” Recipients of the fake parcel SMS messages are advised by the authority to report the fraud attempts. RTR has set up a reporting office for this purpose: rufnummernmissbrauch.at. Anyone who has received a fake SMS and clicked on the link should scan their cell phone for viruses. According to RTR, the link can lead to an infection with “Flubot” – a nasty cell phone Trojan that targets bank data and quickly spreads to the victim’s contacts. DHL also reports attempts to charge alleged fees. To avoid falling into the trap, you should pay attention to warnings: You should always be skeptical about links. Fake SMS messages often bristle with spelling mistakes.
Consider whether the message is plausible: if you haven’t ordered anything, you won’t receive a package SMS. Genuine package notifications are usually sent by e-mail.
-source: krone.at/picture: hp
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