GREENSBORO, N.C. — Buyer, beware of a scam that looks so real, it almost fooled a journalist well-trained at spotting red flags.
It is a series of text messages claiming to come from UPS, regarding a "final notice" to reschedule a missed delivery. The phone number is from a 709 area code, possibly spoofed from a real number.
The link, however, takes the user to a website that appears completely legitimate -- one with the actual UPS logos and no apparent spelling or grammar errors indicating anything awry. The first big pause comes when the website prompts the user for payment information to cover a fee for redelivery.
"There are many iterations of delivery text scams out there. They use all the big names -- UPS, the post office (USPS), Amazon. The fake delivery notices -- they look so real," said Lechelle Yates with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) of Central and Northwest NC.
She explained, "It's once you start to fill out the forms, you start to see the red flags. In one instance, you may be asked to pay money to have your package redelivered."
Yates warned not to hand over credit card information, and she said be cautious of other details the company is asking the customer to give. For example, a real delivery company doesn't need the customer's birth date to deliver a package, but a scammer certainly would like it to try to steal the person's identity. Keep personal information close Yates urged, and know what packages are coming.
"Scammers hope you'll assume their text is about one of your packages without double checking. It's much harder for them to fool you, if you know what packages you're expecting, when and from what companies," she said.
The real UPS website has a whole page dedicated to common fraud scenarios. It explains real phone calls will come from a 1-833 number, and texts will come from a five-digit number starting with 9, 6,4 or 5 -- not the 709 number.
It further explains only a few packages require money for delivery, and users should track their packages through the official website to see if they owe any fees.
To handle a spam text, UPS suggests users block it and report it to the Federal Trade Commission.