A new text message scam is making the rounds in France, according to French radio channel RMC, citing information from the website signal-arnaques.com.
Many people with French phone numbers have reported receiving an SMS allegedly from a delivery person, telling them that the package they were waiting for “did not fit into the mailbox”.
In French, it may read something like “votre colis est trop gros pour votre boîte aux lettres” or “votre colis ne rentrait pas dans la boite aux lettres“.
READ MORE: What to do if you have fallen victim to a scam in France
Then, the recipient is told to click a link that would give them a time slot to pick up the package (“Merci de choisir un créneau via …”)
The fake link appears to take the recipient to a Mondial Relay or other similar looking package pick-up website, and then the user is expected to enter personal information, including banking details, to arrange a new delivery.
The scam is convincing because it’s similar to the genuine messages – it’s common to get a text message telling you that a parcel has been delivered, or if you are not home the company will contact you to arrange another pick-up time or location.
In order to tell whether the message is a scam, you should verify the delivery rules for the company you are using.
For example, if you scheduled the delivery with Mondial Relay, then the package would not be brought to your home (unless you live outside of France) but rather to a specified relay point or self-service locker.
READ MORE: Warning: 6 of the most common scams in France to watch out for
Other companies, like Chronopost, may deliver to your home, but they include send information to show proof of the order, such as the package number and your name within the text message.
Avoiding scams
This is not the only type of text message scam in France. There are several others, and many of them are related to packages or the postal service.
If you have any concerns about the validity of a text message, you can always consult the signal-arnaques.com website, or the French government site Cybermalveillance.gouv.fr.
Do not click the links provided if you have any doubt about the message. A key giveaway is that the scam sites and emails tend to ask users to pay for services that would normally be free on real sites.
Similarly, pay attention to any notice of an anti-virus notification. If the website popped up with a warning that it may be dangerous to click links or that it may contain a virus, then take additional steps to verify its legitimacy before opening.
RMC reported that one person who clicked the link said: “I received an alert message from Safari saying ‘This connection is not private. This website may be trying to pass itself off as consignesinfos.com in order to obtain your personal or financial information'”.
You can also report scams or illegal content on the internet at Pharos, the government’s official portal for reporting illegal internet content.
Just look at the address of the scam: usually it is quite different from the real thing – but not always. For example it may have a tiret instead of a dot.
Always compare it carefully with bone-fide address