Fraudsters posing as parcel delivery companies are targeting people in Romania, an IT security company said Thursday.
Bitdefender said the scammers have sent emails from well-known courier companies such as DHL, FAN courier and the Romanian post office, Posta Romana.
Fraudulent mails
If they click on the links in the fraudulent mails, recipients risk having their personal details hacked and losing money, Bitdefender said in a statement.
Bidefender said scammers had adapted to a change in consumers’ shopping habits in the past year. More people are using delivery services and doing online shopping during the pandemic.
Typically, the mails recommend users pay an extra fee for delivery. Respondents are told to click on a link to provide the card details. If they hand over their details, hackers can steal their funds.
Scam
Another scam involves sending information about a pending delivery or other notifications saying the customer’s address or other details need to be corrected.
These mails come as attachments. Recipients risk having their personal details hacked if they open the attachments.
The scammers are using company logos and the mails are written concisely and without grammatical errors to appear more plausible.
„Criminal IT scammers adapt quickly to new consumer habits in the pandemic and change their strategy from one month to the next,” Bogdan Botezatu, a company spokesman said on Thursday. “Delivery companies are more popular than ever.”
The latest warning came a month after Bitdefender said hackers were sending emails pretending to be from banks such as Banca Transilvania, ING and Raiffeisen Bank.
Recommendations
The company recommends that users go directly to the company’s website to log on and avoid logging in from an email or a message where they’re not sure about the sender.
The company recommends check the sender’s email address before accessing links or downloading attached documents.
It also recommends that people use “a high-performance security solution that can detect computer threats and block their installation on devices.”
Bitdefender is a world leader in IT security used by millions of people. It detects 400 IT threats a minute.
