There have been several instances where people received a notification of a delivery that couldn’t be completed. Under normal circumstances, it could be legitimate, but these messages turned out to be fake.
Those delivery scams are designed to rip you off by claiming you need to hand over information to complete a delivery. But there’s a clever new technique that crooks are using you need to know about. In this one, you receive a package, but its content will leave you wondering what’s happening.
Read on for details on this crafty scam and how to avoid falling victim.
Here’s the backstory
Imagine that your doorbell rings and a package is left on the porch. You’ve done some online shopping, so it’s not unreasonable to assume it’s an order that you placed. However, the sender’s address is from a remote town in Nebraska and the only thing inside is a small piece of cardboard. Or it’s empty.
Strangely, this has happened to so many people that there are hundreds of #emptypackage posts on Twitter from perplexed users.
What’s going on here? According to the FTC, it’s part of a rampant “brushing” scam, and criminals might have stolen your Amazon, Walmart or eBay credentials. It’s similar to when mysterious seeds from China were mailed across the U.S.
Once crooks have your information,…
