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.
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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
(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.
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.
I heard a theory that they put mistakes in intentionally to filter for dumb people.
Doubt that’s true, but it’s a funny idea.
I’ll add how is it that they could not know the address of the recipient, yet would know their phone number?
Either the recipient is totally unknown or they know the address. The last thing they would know about a recipient is the phone number.
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.
You clicked a random link from an sms message?
That’s a bold move, Cotton.
Look at the URL. Of course it’s a scam.
PSA you can check a bitly link without clicking it by using their link checker: https://support.bitly.com/hc/en-us/p/link-checker
TIL, ty
- 3rd party URL shortener, immediate red flag
- Non-USPS.com domain once you tapped it (which you shouldn’t have)
- National service sending from a South Carolina area code instead of a short code or a toll free number
- Does USPS even have your phone number tied to your delivery address?
That also doesn’t look anything like a USPS tracking number (which, if this were real, you’d probably already have). Pro-tip: USPS has “informed delivery” where they’ll send you an email every day with scans of your mail and any packages on their way to you. Which would give you another way to know that this isn’t real.
This is 10000% a scam. That’s not the USPS url scheme. Plus, as a government entity, they’ll start correspondence through certified mail. Another question you could ask yourself is “Did I order any packages lately?” IF not, then more proof it’s a scam.
I get emails from usps all the time, they have a service to alert you of mail and packages arriving. Though, they dont SMS, and wouldnt be using a bit.ly url.
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
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
100% scam
Scam. Suspicious URL, slightly off grammer. Classic phishing.
Contact seller if unsure.
100% yeah. The browser URL doesn’t have ups in it.
Ups is not usps
Yeah. I was getting these almost daily for a few months. Never responded to them and never missed any expected packages.
As others have said, that is definitely a link to a fake website.
If you want to be extra sure, just contact USPS directly.
In addition to everything else: for weeks our building has been receiving packages addressed only with a name, a number, S, and the zip. The name is someone who has never lived here and may not exist. There’s no apartment number. Our street doesn’t start with S, if anything the S is for South. It’s obviously some kind of fraud, because what’s in the packages are little metal clips to clamp the starting tape holding stuff on a pallet. Not anything for residential use. They ship from various Amazon warehouses but through USPS. We can’t get the mailman or Amazon people to return them and the Amazon return process only works if the unwanted package is addressed to you, not some random name.
But I’m now sure as hell that USPS isn’t going to let anything as trivial as an unclear address stop them from delivering the package SOMEWHERE. Anything to call it “delivered.”
I found This on the same site as @mosiacmango@lemm.ee. Doesn’t sound 100% like their intent (unless whatever is “next” is a place to fill out personal details). However loading a webpage is enherantly at least a little bit risky.
Yes, I get them constantly.
