A Calgary woman is warning others about the very popular and very fake package delivery scam after losing thousands of dollars to fraudsters.
Hilary Chapple told Global News she recently received a text “out of the blue,” supposedly from Canada Post advising it had a package to deliver to her.
“I thought it was a Christmas present,” she said. “My brother knows I’m short of money, so I thought he might be sending me money.”
Chapple, who is on disability payments, clicked on the attached link and followed the instructions.
“It went to a website and then banking information — I had to give that,” she said. “The next morning, I checked my bank account and I found out what they did to me.”
What they did, she said, was withdraw almost $2,700 from her bank account.
“I was angry. I was angry at myself for falling for a scam.”
The fake package delivery scam has been a popular one in Canada for years. Organizations like the Better Business Bureau (BBB) even have an alert on their site warning people.
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Jon Ferguson of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) told Global News it’s still easy to fall prey to scams like this.
“The bad actors, malicious actors out there are pretty clever,” he said. “And even given your best efforts, everyone makes a mistake at some point.”
Spotting a fake
Ferguson said people receiving these texts or emails need to look at them closely. He pointed out several ways to spot the fakes, including checking with the actual delivery company and being skeptical when asked to give out too much information.
“What’s a reasonable amount of information that someone would ask me for if they want a parcel pickup?” he asked. “Purolator or any of the parcel services know who you are.”
CIRA and the BBB also suggest you look for spelling mistakes, check to see if the email address is correct and confirm the sender’s phone number. As for payments, they advise you don’t send anything electronically.
“They should never contact you for payment information via email. As soon as people start asking you to pay for things online it always gets dodgy,” Ferguson said.
Finally, Ferguson advises people not engage with the sender, adding that confirms you “are a real person.”
“The best thing to do is just ignore it.”
Chapple acted quickly on her mistake and reported the fraud to the bank right away. She told Global News that the bank quickly launched a fraud investigation and refunded all of her money back.
She also said she was told by her bank that it receives up to seven reports a day regarding similar scams.
Her advice to others: “Don’t open up links you don’t recognize. Wait until it comes in the mail and then go down and receive it.”
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