The Mossos d’Esquadra of Catalonia reported that in reality, It can affect anyone in USA. This is a scam linked to courier services such as DHL and, like so many other scams that can reach the iPhone, it aims to steal our money under the pretext of making a pending payment. Fortunately, it is extremely simple to avoid and it all starts with detecting it.
No shipping company will send a message like that
There are as many scams as there are messaging services. From the public Correos to the private Seur, MRW, UPS, DHL… And if these companies have something in common, it’s that None of them will send you an email asking you to pay extra online. Neither because of customs, nor for any other reason.
When a shipment is closed, the full amount is already paid in advance. In the case of customs, it is the Post Office couriers themselves who demand payment at the door (also in cash). However, they do not send messages like those sent by scammers.
The previous screenshot was shared by Mossos d’Esquadra on their X account, warning that it was a scam attempt. This is an email in which DHL presumably informs us of a package that we are waiting to receive and which, because we have not paid the shipping costs, has been returned to the office. Attached a link where you can make payment to receive it and that, as you can imagine at this point, it is a scam.
This type of scam is known as phishingterm used to describe attempting to impersonate a real business. In this case, from DHL, although we insist that it can arrive with any other company. And it’s dangerous for several reasons.
The first thing is that if we are expecting a package, we may think it is a real email. They use the real company logos and the email addresses are hidden or very similar to the genuine addresses. If at first they can deceive, there is something that can completely confuse us: The amount they are asking for doesn’t seem high
In our heads, we can imagine scammers as unscrupulous people who steal hundreds of dollars from everyone. Less than three dollars is a ridiculous amount for them. No? Well yes, it is. However, this is precisely their idea, that you trust yourself thinking that if it were a scam, they would ask you for more money and little by little they will fill their coffers with the 2.65 dollars of hundreds of people which, in this case, can total several thousand dollars.
The link is the key to the scam
As in all scams that reach the iPhone (or almost), a link is attached. In cases like this, they lead to a payment gateway in which they try to show that this is a DHL website where you can make the payment. And nothing could be further from the truth. You will pay, but not exactly to this company.
They will only accept card payments and to do this they will need the full number, expiry date and CVV of the card. This way they will charge you 2.65 dollars (or what they claim), but They will also have the data in their possession to charge future fees which may be higher.. And there, we’re not talking about less than three dollars.
SO, The basic advice is to always be wary and not open these links. If it is opened accidentally, nothing should happen if no data is entered, but it is better not to open it at all. It is advisable to mark the email as spam and, if in doubt, contact the real company it claims to be (via a reliable contact method) and check if there is really anything to complain about or if it is a scam. Unfortunately, we dare say that 99.99% of the time it will be the latter.
Cover image | Jeshoots on Pexels and Ariapsa on Pixabay
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