Yahoo Finance ‘Pay $1.99’: Aussies warned over fake DHL email
Australians should be on the lookout for a fraudulent email spoofing DHL and telling recipients to pay $1.99 for their delivery to be processed.
Email security platform MailGuard said it intercepted the phishing email, which features the subject line: “Your package is stopped in one of our stations.”
Recipients are then told the delivery of their package is “pending” and they need to pay a processing fee of $1.99.
Victims of this scam who click through to hyperlinked text of ‘Clicking here’ will be taken to a page utilising DHL’s logo and recognisable colour schemes of yellow and red that asks users to confirm their payment.
Hitting the red ‘PAY’ button will take users to a page that asks for recipients’ personal details including name, zip code, phone number and email address.
The following page will then ask for the user’s credit card details.
There is even a ‘Verified by Visa’ badge and a verification SMS code that lends to the appearance of authenticity.
This scam alert is the latest in a long string of warnings about scammer activity that has been heating up in the last few years, with many taking advantage of the pandemic.
Telstra recently warned about a 'missed call' text that asks Aussies to click a link that will direct them to download 'FluBot' malware that can go on to infect other people's phones.
Earlier in the year, MailGuard has warned multiple times against similar scams spoofing DHL.
Also read:
How to spot the fake
While the page is a convincing fake, eagle-eyed recipients will notice that the email’s sender address and domain don’t belong to DHL at all.
“It's actually a phishing page hosted on a compromised website and is designed to harvest the above-mentioned credentials of users,” MailGuard said in a recent alert.
According to DHL’s (legitimate) website, any genuine communication from the shipping company will be sent from @dhl.com, @dpdhl.com, @dhl.de, @dhl.fr or another country domain after @dhl.
“We never use @gmail, @yahoo or other free email services to send emails,” the company stated.
And any website links will always begin with dhl.com or dpdhl.com or another country or campaign website.
DHL stated that any fake communications will request payment before the package has been delivered.
“Please be advised that DHL does not request payment in this manner. DHL only collects money due for official DHL related shipping expenses.”
WATCH BELOW: 4 Tips for Spotting and Avoiding Common Scams
How to report scams to DHL
If you’ve received this fake email spoofing DHL, report it to the shipping company by forwarding it to phishing-dpdhl@dhl.com.
Then, be sure to mark the message as span so it doesn’t come back up in your inbox.
Users shouldn’t expect DHL to get back to them personally.
“We thoroughly investigate every report of suspected fraud, but generally, will not respond to personal inquiries,” DHL said on its website.
Questions about DHL shipments or invoices should be directed to their customer support.
Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to the free Fully Briefed daily newsletter.
