Margaret, 71, had just sat down for her morning coffee when she received a text.
“USPS: Your package delivery has been delayed due to an incomplete address. Please confirm your information here to avoid return to sender.”
She felt a wave of panic. Just yesterday she had ordered a new suitcase online. Her trip was in less than a week! Had she mistyped her zip code or something? It wouldn’t be the first time. She needed that package delivered ASAP and was kicking herself for making such a small mistake.
Margaret clicked the link in the text. A webpage with the USPS logo appeared asking her to verify her name, address and phone number. It also requested a small “re-delivery fee” of $1.79 to process the shipment.
The fee annoyed Margaret but she was sure she’d messed up with her online order in some way and was thankful the fee to fix it was so low.
She entered her debit card information and hit submit.
Missing Money
Within hours, her bank called to ask if she had just made several purchases totaling more than $1,200 from online retailers across the country. She hadn’t.
“Oh great,” she thought. “First I mess up my online order, now someone has stolen my bank account information.”
The banker on the phone asked if she had recently shared any of her personal information or been a fraud victim.
Margaret froze. That’s when all the pieces came together.
The Scam
The text from “USPS” wasn’t from USPS at all. It was a scam. The “re-delivery fee” was a way to trick her into giving up her personal information and she had fallen right into the trap.
As she recounted the whole story to her friend later, she felt so dumb. In hindsight, it was obviously a scam. A text message asking you to click and enter personal information? That’s everything everyone says not to do.
But in the moment, it felt real. It felt real because everything about it was just true enough. She had ordered a package recently and had mistyped information in the past. That, combined with the fear of not receiving her suitcase on time, caused her to respond too quickly and her judgement lapsed.
Then, her friend said something interesting.
“I’m sorry this happened to you. If it makes it any better, I’m glad you’re telling me about it because it sounds like a trick that would have worked on me, too, and now it won’t!”
The Takeaway
Nobody thinks they will be a victim of fraud or identity theft until they are. All it takes is one moment of distraction to let our guard down and click a link. Remember:
1. Never respond to texts asking you to click a link and enter personal information.
2. It’s easy to make a website look legitimate with company logos.
3. Keep a close eye on your accounts and guard your personal information like passwords, account numbers, logins, social security number, etc.
4. If you do share information by mistake, take action right away. Contact your bank for next steps, including freezing or closing accounts and changing passwords.
5. Finally, talk about it! Margaret’s bad experience may have saved her friend from the same thing.
And yes, Margaret’s suitcase DID arrive on time! She didn’t let fraud stop her from enjoying her vacation.
