This time of year, inboxes are flooded with holiday deals and promotions, as well as phishing emails and texts that claim to have information on online orders and deliveries.
“It might be your item is delayed that’s going to cause alarm. Or, it’s on its way that causes hope. So, we have a tendency to want to look at this information,” said Angie Barnett, president & CEO with the Better Business Bureau serving greater Maryland.
When consumers click on the links, they’re asked for personal information, or malware capturing keystrokes and password information could be downloaded onto the device.
An easy way to avoid being tricked is to keep a folder in your inbox just for emails containing order and tracking information.
“Move it over there, and if you get a notification of shipping that tells you your order’s delayed or something, verify did you really order something that’s going to be delivered from that particular shipping handling entity? And verify that it is true and look at the tracking numbers that’s critical,” Barnett said.
Other giveaways include poor grammar or spelling errors.
If you receive one of these emails, you can forward it to USPS, Amazon, or UPS to investigate.
This story was originally published by Mallory Sofastaii at WMAR.
