Scams involving parcel delivery companies continue to spread. In recent weeks, scammers have been asking unsuspecting people to send money via parcel machines. In March, however, a scam was circulating, mainly on Facebook Marketplace, in which sellers or buyers were directed seemingly to the Venipak website to formalise a delivery. However, it was a phishing scam to get people’s bank account details. Martten Kaldvee, Sales Director of Venipak Estonia, talks about common schemes and Konstantin Fedorcov, CTO of Venipak Group, advises on how to spot scams.
Martten Kaldvee explained that the number of cases where customers approached Venipak Estonia with scams on behalf of the company increased significantly in March. “Mostly, the scams were spreading on behalf of Venipak in the Facebook Marketplace, where buying and selling activity is high and parcel machines are often used as a delivery method. The scammers initially sent sellers or buyers a link to the Venipak landing page, which at first glance looks very similar to the official Venipak website. However, careful users noticed a difference in the domain name, for example the address Venipak.safefundsget.fun was used,” said Kaldvee.
Kaldvee pointed out that the scammers became more and more devious with each passing day and instead of sending a link, they sent a screenshot with the correct domain. “The scammers sent a screenshot as if they were making a delivery on the Venipak website and claimed they needed the seller’s number and email. The e-mail then contained a link to a letter that directed the customer to the bank to enter the PIN,” Kaldvee said.
Kaldvee stressed that buyers and sellers should not lose alertness in buy-and-sell environments and should always check both the domain and, if possible, the background of the seller or buyer. He added that new phone scams are already spreading, with alleged bank employees asking people to withdraw a large sum of money and send it to the bank via parcel machine. “It’s worth remembering that bank representatives will never ask to send money via parcel machine” stressed Kaldvee.
Konstantin Fedorcov, CTO of Venipak Group, advice on how to protect yourself from scams?
- Check the domain name. Links sent by scam emails usually do not have the correct domain name. For example, a link was sent on behalf of Venipak to the domain Venipak.safefundsget.fun, but the official domain name of Venipak Estonia is Venipak.com/ee.
- Check the e-mail address of the sender. It’s always worth checking what the sender’s email address is. For example, emails sent on behalf of Venipak were sent from [email protected] without a specific name, while the official email domain of Venipak is @venipak.com with an ending.
- Do not insert payment or personal details. Venipak does not send messages that require the entry of payment or personal data. Never insert PIN codes if you need to receive money for yourself. When sending to a parcel machine, your phone number, name, and the location of the parcel machine are sufficient.
- Contact the official customer support. In case of doubt, it is always a good idea to contact the company’s official customer support, either online or by phone.
- Do not send money by parcel machine. If an allegedly bank employee asks you to send money via parcel machine, the alarm bells should go off immediately – this should never be done.