The holiday shopping season is in full swing and many people are doing their shopping online which means that their packages will be delivered by the United States Postal Service, Federal Express, UPS or Amazon.  With so many packages being delivered at this time of year, it is inevitable that some packages will be delayed.   In this case, scammers, posing as the United States Postal Service, Federal Express and UPS and Amazon are contacting people apologizing for the delay in receiving their orders and offering a refund of their money.  The emails contain a link for you to click on to process your claim for a refund, but unfortunately, if you click on the link either you will automatically download harmful malware or you will be prompted to provide information that will be used to make you a victim of identity theft.

TIPS

As always, the first thing you should look at when you get such an email is the address from which it was sent.  In many instances the email address of the sender has no relation to the United States Postal Service, Federal Express, UPS or Amazon.  Often the email is that of someone whose email account has been hijacked by the scammer and made a part of a botnet of zombie computers used to send out such phishing emails.  However, in other instances, the email address may appear legitimate.  But remember my motto, “trust me, you can’t trust anyone.”  Even if the email address of the sender looks legitimate, you should never click on a link unless you have absolutely confirmed that the email is legitimate.  In this case it is important to remember that none of these companies are contacting people by email or text messages offering refunds.

For information about refunds for late deliveries of UPS use this link  https://www.ups.com/no/en/support/shipping-support/legal-terms-conditions/ups-service-guarantee.page

For information about refunds for late deliveries of Federal Express use this link  https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-guide/money-back-guarantee.html

For information about refunds for late deliveries of Amazon use this link https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=GZ5R2Y8QHENSLW75

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