With the holidays approaching, many Iowans are sending and receiving packages but be warned.
A new scam involves an email that claims there’s a problem with a package delivery and the message appears to be from U-P-S, FedEx or the U-S Postal Service.
Jim Hegarty, head of the Better Business Bureau office in Omaha-Council Bluffs, says don’t be fooled. “Scammers use this time of the year, every year, to send these spoofed emails,” Hegarty says. “They look like they’re from legitimate delivery services but they’re designed to download malware into your system which can cause you all kinds of headaches.” Should you get such an email, report it to your internet service provider and delete it.
You can also call the agency to verify there’s no problem with your delivery.
Hegarty also warns of recent scams on Facebook that appear to be from friends, touting federal grant money for people with disabilities. Hegarty says don’t accept “friend” requests on Facebook from people you don’t know. “We’re in an environment now where this is a venue that’s being used very consistently to take advantage of people and get access to accounts,” he says. “We just have to be super cautious.”
The grant scheme recently duped an Omaha-area woman out of more than two-thousand dollars, thinking she was following the advice of a “friend.”
