They're only like 18mo late on this one. So far I've seen USPS, FedEx, DHL and UPS flavors of this scam.
this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2023
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I love how mine would get progressively more broken in English. Each day a new text with a new link and more failed grammar. Thankfully they gave up after a week.
There is probably a reason for this, the carriers start blocking these, so they have to break the words so they bypass those blocks.
We had these in Finland two years ago, it originates probably from Russia, so we are their sandbox for these kind of cyber shit. Our carriers found out some way to block them and they are not anymore happening. One day our cyber security center just informed that they have co-operated with carriers to block them permanently. I believe the technique is not made public.
Edit: did some digging, so it was keyword based blocking in the network + Europol raided the servers which commanded the malware
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I’ve gotten like 4 of these, and it’s honestly surprising to me that anyone with more than a dozen brain cells falls for these scams, since they’re comically obvious.
So yeah I guess that actually accounts for like a good third or so of the country.
They know that there will be a certain number of the population that will see these attempts as obvious. Those texts aren’t meant for us. They’re meant for the elderly and less savvy.
They prey on the vulnerable. That's really all you have to say.
You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons.
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Well, you say that but coincidentally I was expecting a parcel from a courier and received a well crafted text saying that delivery attempt failed.
It's easy to fall into a trap like this. It was only when I paused wondering why are they asking for my address did I realise its a scam.
It was sent at 8:30, right during personal rush hour time.
Same thing happened to my wife. It was perfect timing with an actual expected package that missed delivery. Send out enough of these and you're bound to get a few hits from people in the exact scenario you're scamming for.
Same here. My teen ordered something that was supposed to arrive this coming weekend. However it arrived early by USPS and the first I learned about it was when he got that scam text. I told him it looked like a scam, but I checked the real tracking number and the package was delivered.
I wonder if they have a data source for real deliveries to target - the online store did use some third party tracker that I accidentally clicked on before going to USPS
Honestly, this is just an unfortunate artifact of the ubiquitous nature of technology these days, and the fact that most people don’t think too hard about what’s actually happening or how this crazy amalgamation of information and services operates, and simply consider it “convenient magic”.
I got a really believable scam text a couple of weeks ago from a purported collection agency. I'm having some debt issues and it looked very real. The fact that they didn't say my name or who they represented were obvious clues, but I could definitely see myself not thinking about that and downloading their attached PDF.
Dude I got one too. I even Googled the website and it came up as legit. I just ignored it because fuck collection agencies. They can't do anything If they can't verify it's you. Also I don't have debt beyond my car payment which I'm ahead on so that was another hint.
Good on you for figuring it out!
What worries me is how many people didn't figure it out.
I've been getting these for ages now... UPS, USPS, endless scam texts all the time!
Not only USPS. I got one today from "Canada posts" from a UK number. (I'm in Canada btw).
All of the numbers to me have been +44, which I'm pretty sure is the UK.
Am in the UK, can confirm that's our country code.
Same for me. I'm in the Mid-Atlantic part of the US. I've gotten one every day for the last week. They all have been sent straight to spam though.
Please forward these text messages to spam@uspis.gov to help get the scam websites taken down and spam numbers blocked. Yes, you can send text messages directly to email addresses.
AOL warns email users to not open attachments in any emails offering Britney Spears nude pics
It annoys me that they use different (probably spoofed) numbers that basically make it impossible to block them
Google messages has done a good job blocking them before I see them. My spam filter is full of them.
Been getting these for literal months. Unfortunately the people who will fall for this won't read this warning.
It’s been going on for at least a year. The scammers got exactly what they wanted, this warning means nothing now other than to signal the scammers that they need a new method.
Took em long enough, been getting these for months
I've got like 10 in the last week. Every single one has got an "eat my asshole" response.
You should also forward each message to spam@uspis.gov (yes, you can text to email addresses) if you want to help take down the scam sites and get the numbers blocked.
I got one few hours ago 🤩. (I'm in Czechia so it was obvious some czech version)
Just looked in my text spam. I've gotten several of those over the past week. Huh.
I got one of these yesterday that directed me to go do “uspspl.com” from a random hotmail.com email address.
Yes, I knew what was going on and since there wasn’t any tracking info in the URL I decided to go there.
It did a redirect to the correct “usps.com” site.
Whatever happened it was a fail on the part of the scammers. Lol
The scammers also do it on voicemails (Chinese consulate, DHL, other spoofed orgs), but I've got those USPS texts quite a few times.
I don't fall for it but for some people, it's easy for them to not recognize it as a scam.
Yeah my friend got one, the URL was convincing and the USPS page is very convincing, it looks almost identical to the real site including load animations.
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About a year ago I got a weirdly nervous and heavy-breathing voicemail from "FedEx" about confirming a package address for a relative that didn't even live with me. It was creepy af, it almost sounded like he was under duress
This is one of the oldest scams I know.
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