It’s already bad enough that we get called by people pretending to be Microsoft, but now you’re going to have to be on alert from fake Aussie organisations, but there are some tips you can consider.
We must be nearing tax time again, because scams are on the increase as cybercriminals look for ways to pinch your cashflow.
This week, the few that have passed over the GadgetGuy desk haven’t been about tax, but rather orders or alerts, with Australia Post and the Australian Federal Police used, and the templates are getting better.
Previously, a dodgy email was pretty easy to pick up on, what with poor grammar, incomplete images, and an attempt to make the email seem more complicated to make up for the fact that it was obviously fake, but this week, the two we’ve seen are so minimalist, they might be real.
The first one came from Australia Post, and as you can see, there’s a pretty clear Australia Post label and some pretty easy to follow directions.
This is all about printing the shipping label and collecting the package, because we’d all want to do that.
But alas, all you really need to do is click on the so-called email for Australia Post to find out that it isn’t Australia Post, but rather someone in Poland.
In fact, that ink for getting the package label to print out isn’t legit either, linking to a website that isn’t the “auspost.com.au” website, but something somewhere else.
These are solid tips, too, as if you’re concerned you might be sent spam, you can always call up the organisation and see if it’s real, or just hover over a link and see if the URL looks real.
If it doesn’t show what the website should be, it’s a scam.
We saw the same sort of thing this week with the Australian Federal Police, who were apparently asking us to come in to court.
Interestingly, the date we were supposed to come in was well over a week ago, but according to the email we were being invited to court, and there was even a bit of fairly solid language to suggest this might be legit.
Except it’s obviously not, so let’s look why using those tips from before.
Number one is a hover over the email to find out where the so-called AFP in this email come from, and again, it’s not the proper “afp.gov.au” email you might be expecting, but rather something from Turkey.
And while the language might seem authentic, a hover over that “down load notices” link reveals a website that is clearly not the Australia Federal Police.
Looking back at the email, it’s pretty clear a template is being used because the designs are remarkably similar, but it’s also clear scammers are getting better.
As a point, we don’t suggest clicking any of these links, but rather hovering over them to see if they are in fact real.
And if they’re not, you know what to do: delete.
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