Recent studies have shown that nearly 80% of internet users worldwide are opting to shop online. With numbers that high, it’s easy to imagine that a significant proportion of Australian households are anticipating at least one delivery at any given moment. In fact, it’s what scammers are banking on.
Parcel redelivery scams are a common choice for phishing attacks. They’re simple to execute, and because so many people are waiting on packages, sending a mass email will likely catch a number of unsuspecting victims. Typically, the scammer poses as a legitimate postage or freight company, such as DHL, FedEx, or Australia Post, and sends an email saying that delivery was attempted but unsuccessful, before asking for a ‘redelivery fee’. The emails generally create a sense of urgency and pressure the recipient to act quickly, which can lead to them providing personal information or clicking on malicious links without carefully considering the email's authenticity.
Today, MailGuard intercepted and began blocking a new phishing email that impersonates Australia Post. The email has the subject line “Invalid address, we couldn’t find you”, and the sender name shows “australiapost”. Although the reply to address shows “ausposts(at)auspost(dot)com(dot)au”, which is close enough to an email you would expect from Australia Post, the actual sender address is “noprely(at)gmbh(dot)de”, a German domain.
The formatting of the email is not quite as clean as you would expect from Australia Post and doesn’t use any branding except for the red that you typically see in their logos. The email copy explains that “An error occurred during the delivery of your recommended letter” and that in order to collect the letter, the recipient must correct their details and pay a fee for the stamp and address correction service, totalling AUD $4.92. As mentioned earlier, the scammer creates a sense of urgency by adding “Note: unconfirmed parcels/registered letters will be returned to the merchant within 48 hours” at the bottom of the email.
Here's what the email looks like:
If the recipient clicks the link in the email to “Correct my address”, they’re taken to a phishing site that uses the Australia Post logo and asks the user to “Please confirm your address to ensure express delivery”. Once again, the scammer adds the pressure of time by explaining that any letters that are confirmed before 5 pm will have next-day delivery.
The recipient is asked to enter their:
- Phone number
- Email address
- Full stress address
- City
At the bottom of the page, there’s an image of the registered post label to help feign authenticity. While the page itself is relatively convincing, the URL has no mention of Australia Post, and the user is actually on a compromised website belonging to an Indonesian university.
After entering their personal details, the victim is taken to a “Card verification” page, where they’re again warned they will be charged an AUD $4.92 fee before being asked to enter their:
- Name on card
- Card number
- Card validity MM/YY
- CVC
Finally, the victim is taken to an SMS confirmation page where they’re asked to enter a one-time password that’s sent to their mobile. This is common in credit card scams, as the attacker attempts to charge the card to check that it’s valid before storing it for later use.
Given the scammer only demands a few dollars, victims may not think twice about the charge when they’re eager to receive their parcel, but the true cost is much higher. If they enter their data, their personal information and credit card details will be stolen and used for identity and/or financial fraud.
Australia Post advises that they will never:
- Call, text or email you asking for personal or financial information including password, credit card details or account information
- Call, text or email you to request payment
- Ask you to click on an email link to print off a label to redeem your package
MailGuard advises all recipients of this email to delete it immediately without clicking on any links. Providing your personal details can result in your sensitive information being used for criminal activity and may have a severe negative impact on your business and its financial well-being.
MailGuard urges users not to click links or open attachments within emails that:
- Are not addressed to you by name.
- Appear to be from a legitimate company but use poor English or omits personal details that a legitimate sender would include.
- Are from businesses that you were not expecting to hear from, and/or
- Take you to a landing page or website that is not the legitimate URL of the company the email is purporting to be sent from.
Many businesses turn to MailGuard after an incident or a near miss, often as a result of an email similar to the one shown above. If unwanted emails are a problem for your business, don’t wait until it’s too late.
Reach out to our team for a confidential discussion by emailing expert@mailguard.com.au or calling 1300 30 44 30.
One email is all that it takes
All that it takes to devastate your business is a cleverly worded email message that can steal sensitive user credentials or disrupt your business operations. If scammers can trick one person in your company into clicking on a malicious link or attachment, they can gain access to your data or inflict damage on your business.
For a few dollars per staff member per month, you can protect your business with MailGuard's predictive and advanced email security. Talk to a solution consultant at MailGuard today about securing your company's inboxes.
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