USPS warning customers of 'brushing' scams
The Brief
The United States Postal Service is warning about a rise in a variety of scams against customers.
"Brushing" scams are a growing concern.
The USPS has made thousands of arrests for mail-related crimes since the launch of "Project Safe Delivery."
TAMPA - The United States Postal Service is warning about new types of phishing and smishing scams against customers.
The agency says there are also growing concerns over new types of scams.
What we know
Postal officials say there are a variety of types of scams that they see, and that scams continue to evolve and become more sophisticated.
"Victims in our area have been defrauded through lottery scams, Publisher's Clearinghouse scams, romance scams," USPS Postal Inspector Damien Kraebel said.
The USPS says it commonly sees phishing scams through emails and smishing scams through text messages. The scams are all targeting customers' personal information.
Postal officials say there are several red flags to look for in any message you receive about tracking a package or claiming to be the USPS.
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"If it's got a country code on it, it's not from the U.S. Postal service, right?" Kraebel said. "If it has a country code from the Philippines, that we don't send text messages from the Philippines."
Kraebel says spelling or grammatical errors are also an immediate cause for suspicion. He says real messages from the USPS also never include links to click on.
The USPS says "brushing" scams are a growing concern.
These scams involve sending unsolicited items from a seller, who then posts fake reviews to boost sales.
"For example, in Publisher's Clearinghouse scams, the victim may be called on the phone to say that they've won that, but they may also receive mailings that appear to be from the publisher's clearinghouse," Kraebel said. "And they'll even come with a fake check."
Dig deeper
In 2023, the USPS launched "Project Safe Delivery", which targets mail-related crimes.
In its first year, the USPS says there was a 27% decrease in letter carrier robberies, and there were more than 2,800 arrests made due to mail-related crimes.
The scammers tailor their tactics to different groups and demographics.
"You might see younger people fall more for employment scams because they're seeking jobs, where elderly might fall more for romance scams or honoree scams," Kraebel said.
It's easy to fall victim to these scams, but it's not always easy to track down the person responsible.
Once your personal information is out there or your money is gone, postal officials say it's hard to get it back.
"They certainly don't make it easy," Kraebel sad. "And the nature of international telecommunications makes it difficult."
If you find yourself falling into one of these traps, postal officials encourage you to keep track of your credit accounts, annual credit reports and to freeze your credit if necessary.
The USPS also encourages people to forward USPS-related scam emails to spam@uspis.gov, and smishing scam texts to 7726.
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