Be careful if you have received an SMS from Chronopost informing you of a logistical error preventing the delivery of a package! This is a new phishing campaign designed to scam you by collecting your personal and banking data.
Online savings and credits, fake unpaid fines, retirement, Netflix, vital card, taxes… Scammers use all means and all possible reasons when it comes to taking your money! And for that, they love to send fraudulent SMS or emails to their potential victims. They usually pretend to be Chronopost, the delivery service, through messages such as “Chronopost: your package is held in a sorting center. For fast delivery, please pay the necessary fees via” followed by a fraudulent link. The technique is known and, fortunately, SMS messages of this type generally end up in spam. However, it appears that scammers have launched a new spam campaign this week in France.
Chronopost scam: a package to recover
You may receive an SMS allegedly sent by a Chronopost delivery person or a postman, with the aim of recovering a package after a delivery failure. The message looks like this: “Hello, I was unable to put your package in the mailbox, please select a slot on…” , followed by a link supposed to allow you to schedule a new delivery slot. Obviously, this is a fraudulent link, which redirects you to a fake Chronopost site intended to recover your personal and banking information, and the package does not exist. But, you never know, you may be waiting for your last Amazon order and you could fall into the trap!
To gain your trust, scammers use a URL like chronopost.pickup-suivi.com, therefore made up of keywords commonly used by the delivery company. A plausible address therefore, but one which should definitely not be clicked on! The sender’s phone number should ring a bell, since it’s a cell phone number. In addition, the SMS is sometimes sent at unusual times for delivery, notably between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. That’s because cybercriminals are early in the morning!
To avoid being fooled, keep in mind that delivery companies never ask you to pay by SMS in order to receive a package intended for you. If in doubt, you can go directly to the organization’s website, without using the SMS link. Take your time and don’t act in a hurry, that’s what cybercriminals are looking for. If you are ever the target of an online or SMS scam, forward the message to Signal Spam immediately, Pharosor directly to 33,700, the platform specializing in reporting scams. You can also report these fraudulent messages to the site internet-signalement.gouv.fr. Then block the sender’s number to no longer be bothered and delete the message in question. If necessary, you can also consult the website www.cybermalveillance.gouv.frwhich will remind you of the main precautionary measures to adopt when dealing with fraudulent SMS messages.