Scammers are creating fake change-of-address websites posing as the United States Postal Service.
Scammers are creating websites that look like the United States Postal Service site while tricking consumers into paying for no service at all.
In the majority of these cases, the scammers get away with your money and your address is left unchanged.
Chris Babin, Business Administration Manager with the Better Business Bureau of Acadiana, said, “So, when you get online to change your address, you go to a website that might not be a legitimate website, and when later on down the road, your credit card or something’s getting charged. It’s because you went to the wrong website.”
News 10 asked, “Consumers, if you will, they go online, they look trying to change their address…. these scammers are charging them way more money than the USPS would ever charge?”
“That’s correct,” explained Babin. “If you go into the local post office, it actually doesn’t charge. They don’t charge any fees to change your address and if you go through the USPS.com website, they charge $1.05 which is just an identity verification charge.”
“Any specific things that consumers are saying about these websites?”
“We have received reports specifically, and basically what they’re saying is that they clicked on the wrong website. They were charged as much as $80 not realizing that it wasn’t the Postal Service,” added Babin. “Come to find out, they weren’t getting their mail and they didn’t get refunded either.”