Url looks suss. Seems kinda sophisticated for the usual ups fishing scam. Here’s the text message I got leading here.
“Wishing you a bright and sunny day!” Lol, I almost want to help this guy by explaining that UPS and American companies in general have disdain for their customers and would never wish them to have anything that would not benefit the company.
One thing to note, aside from all the other inconsistencies, that tracking number does not follow the standard tracking number format for a USPS package. The USPS website describes their different tracking numbers for their different services in the FAQ at the bottom of their tracking page. https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction_input
A tangent:
What annoys me is when legitimate companies use non-standard URLs in their hyperlinked emails. For example, if you get a message from Facebook taking you to facebookemail.com, that’s actually a domain controlled by the real Facebook.
They’re essentially teaching their customers to click on links in emails which use unfamiliar URLs which are superficially similar to the usual one.
Aside from all of the red flags already listed in other comments…are you even expecting a package to be delivered? I almost never receive a package that I don’t expect
I seriously doubt USPS bought a domain like gflrml dot cyou for their business. It’s 300% a scam.
Reminds me of my previous bank.
They changed some system countrywide, so I got an email that I need to update some data and go to a website to do that.
If was something like “update-[bankname]-data-now.tld”.
It was sent to a unique mail address I used for them. But still though it was phishing.
Turns out: No. It was real. Whoever came up with the idea to not host that stuff on at least a subdomain of the bank really needs to get fired. and each and every manager who was part of the decision process.
Ugh. I work in the public sector and let me tell you, there are SO many companies that send the most dogiest, scammiest looking emails telling you to follow a link, only for it to turn out to be perfectly legitimate.
I honestly can see now why people end up falling for these things when even legitimate companies send emails looking just like phishing scammers
Had that happen, too. We all try to educate users to NOT click on some dubious phishing/scams and put in qute some effort to explain it over and over again, and then there are companies doing things like that. It’s just sad.
lol I have to go back to the bank (when there’s a manager, because there wasn’t last time🤦♀️), to turn online banking back on for my account.
It got turned off because I didn’t pick up some spam call they made.
The text message is the big red flag, that’s obviously a scam and has been happening for at least a year. Most scam texts are filtered on my phone, but a few of these slip thru.
I guess they’re just trying to tie phone numbers to addresses so they can sell the phone list for more info.
Especially with people keeping their cell number while moving states, tying an address to the number and verifying it’s that person would be a tidy profit.
Link shortener (not their own at least) is another massive red flag, same with typos (‘number number’ in page)
Also, is it common for a legitimate government agency to use a third-party link shortener like bitly?
You mean (uint32_t)-1 %
Very well known scam. Some details that give it away:
(1) They used a url shortener that doesn’t let you see the actual domain. (bit.ly)
(2) Website domain is not legitimate.
USPS’s website is usps.com. If the URL doesn’t end in usps.com (meaning usps.fakewebsite.com is still fake) then it’s not legitimate.
(3) Tone: The USPS doesn’t text you like you’re their friend.
(4) The number they’re texting you from is not an SMS short code number (usually 5 digits). Instead you’re getting a text from a 10 digit number with an area code, which means it’s a person/individual rather than an application or service.
source: used to work as cyber sec analyst
That’s interesting I didn’t think about that fourth point, but whenever I get a verification SMS it does always come from a 5 digit number.
(5) grammatical error(s): “We will ship again in” instead of “we will ship again on”
Edit: more subtle errors and phrasing that feels like it was written by a non-native English speaker.
(6) USPS tracking numbers are like 65 digits long, because they expect to track every hydrogen atom in the known universe individually.
You’re absolutely right, of couse, but keep in mind that communications is still mostly done by people and people are generally fucking stupid.
Yeah the first bullet copy with the comma and wrong preposition is clearly unprofessional. These scams always use poor contrasting red warning text as well.
Report this at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.
Also, because they’re using Bitly for URL obfuscation report it to them at https://bitly.com/pages/trust/report-abuse.
For any of the fake domains you run into report it to both the registrar of the domain as well as the owner of the actual IP address it points to.
flip the question around: Why would you think this wasn’t a scam?
Furthermore, wtf did they GO TO THE URL FROM A TEXT MESSAGE at all?! 🤦🏽♂️
FFS, people. There’s “I need help with my computer” and then there’s “Some of us shouldn’t have a smartphone”. 🫶🏼
Holding up a giant sign that says “I CLICK ON WHATEVER BULLSHIT LINK YOU SEND ME”
tbf, it could be sandboxed and safe. I doubt it is, OP doesn’t seem the type, but it could be.
Doesn’t matter, there’s more than likely a callback in the url that says who it was, and now the sender knows the number is active and the user clicks on links
I’m a postal worker and I click these bogus links every single time to check if they escape special characters lol
Even just opening the link can leak info - I would avoid doing so entirely unless your device is sandboxed
I actually knew it was a scam and I normally don’t click on them. But I’m glad I’m glad I posted it.
It is 100% a scam. I get texts with this exact text all the time with shady links going to a fake USPS website.
They can’t figure out your address, but somehow they can figure out your email?
Bruh, just look at the address bar. That is not a USPS domain. Obviously it’s a scam.
Go to the official UPS website (do not click that link, google it) and enter your tracking number.
If you don’t have a tracking number it means you didn’t order anything, and it’s certainly a scam.This is usps, not ups, but everything else is accurate.
Always check the real site without using a link to get there.
Bit[dot]ly
Is an obvious clue. Companies/Entities like USPS don’t use 3rd party url shorteners…
No, they just pipe them through asinine third-party tracking URLs that get blocked on my network
I get these scam texts all the time. It’s 100% a scam, and now that you’ve clicked it, you’ll probably get a bunch more scam in the near future, so be extra cautious.
Make your life easier: NEVER click on any link in an email.
In this case, if you are actually waiting for a USPS package, go to usps.com, enter your package number manually, and see if it tracks.Hell my paranoid ass would reinstall windows and change all my passwords after visiting an obvious scam site like that.
