WORCESTER – Two Worcester County residents have reported being targeted by a phishing scam in recent days that individuals across the country, including other parts of New England, have reported extensively.
Accoding the the Federal Trade Commission [FTC], “Phishing is a type of online scam that targets consumers by sending them an e-mail that appears to be from a well-known source – an internet service provider, a bank, or a mortgage company, for example. It asks the consumer to provide personal identifying information. Then a scammer uses the information to open new accounts, or invade the consumer’s existing accounts.”
The scammer targets individuals by using a supposed incoming package as bait to click to a website and settle a small outstanding balance by credit card. After an individual uses a credit or debit card number to settle the balance, the card number is used to accrue fraudulent charges.
In both cases in Worcester County, one in Northbridge and another in Worcester, individuals received text messages with the fraudulent link. In other areas around the country, those targeted also reported the use of email.
In Northbridge, the scammer attempted to target the individual using a notice of a pending package from the United States Postal Service. In Worcester, the message informed the individual they had a pending shipment from UPS.
Neither attempt was successful in scamming the resident to reveal payment information.
How It Works
The targeted individual receives electronic communication suggesting an unresolved issue, such as in this text message.
The link leads to a form, often on a website page designed to mimic the website of a shipping provider.
Individuals have also received emails with the same purpose, such as this example cited by UPS.
UPS has produced a document with examples of different fraudulent communication it had received reports of.
