The Postal Service is reminding employees and contractors to beware of smishing and other online scams.
Smishing is when criminals pose as legitimate sources and send fraudulent text messages to manipulate victims into divulging passwords or financial account information or persuade them into downloading malicious software.
“We have detected unusual activity on your account” and “Please click this link to reset your password” are among the messages often used in smishing attacks.
The attacks are unfortunately effective. In 2021, 87.8 billion smishing attacks duped consumers out of $10 billion, according to Experian.
Government employees have also fallen victim to smishing attacks, as well as vishing and quishing attacks that use voice messages or QR codes, respectively.
To keep the USPS network secure, employees and contractors should follow these tips:
• Don’t click: Do not open any link or attachment from a phone number you do not have saved in your contacts list, or from a sender you can’t verify.
• Filter messages: Filtering unknown senders on mobile devices blocks notifications from unsaved phone numbers, decreasing the likelihood of falling for a smishing scam.
To filter unknown numbers on mobile devices, follow these steps:
• Apple users: Go to Settings, then Messages and toggle on the “Filter Unknown Senders” option to create a new tab in your Messages app called “Unknown Senders.”
• Android users: Go to Settings, then Spam Message Settings and select the “Block Unknown Senders” option.
The CyberSafe at USPS Blue, LiteBlue and Monthly Awareness Campaigns pages have additional information.