Fraud Alert: Be Aware of SMS Scams

All staff are warned to be wary of texts claiming to be from courier companies this festive period.

Since the pandemic began there has been an increase in the volume of fraudulent texts telling people that they are due a delivery and asking them to click on a link and input personal details.

Once the information has been harvested by scammers, victims are typically called and persuaded that they are speaking to their bank’s fraud department and they should move money into a “safe account”.

One bank, TSB, state that its internal data showed that in October, 81% of scams beginning with a text message involved an SMS claiming to be from a delivery firm.

Royal Mail are the most impersonated delivery company accounting for 62% of cases followed by DPD (19%) and Hermes (15%).

Staff should:

• Never click on any link sent in a text purporting to be from a delivery company.
• Remain on guard; never input personal details into an SMS link and certainly not card details.

If you think you are a victim to this type of scam, contact your bank immediately via their recognised contact details - never use a number supposedly supplied by your bank in a text.

Friday 17 December 2021