The US Postal Inspection Service warns consumers about common new fraud methods.

You’ve seen the warnings about phishing scams, where a scammer sends you an email pretending to be a trusted company to trick you into giving up your personal information. But now scammers are coming up with new tricks.

“So newer scams are coming out all the time. For example, we’re seeing smishing, which uses text messages,” said USPIS Inspector Keith Nusbaum.

A perfect example of smishing is a text message claiming to be from the United States Postal Service stating that a package cannot be delivered… unless you confirm your address via a link in the message.

“That link doesn’t go to the Postal Service and the message doesn’t come from the Postal Service,” Nusbaum said. “But once you go there and give your name, address and personal information, these scammers have that information.”

Scammers also leave voicemails pretending to be government employees.

“Vishing is using fake phone numbers to leave voicemails on phones. So they take a number from a legitimate government agency and leave a voicemail with it,” Nusbaum said. “The number they want you to call back is not the government agency’s number, it’s the scammers’ number.”

Instead of calling the number left on the voicemail, look up the main phone number of the department or agency (make sure you search on the official website) and call that.

QR codes have gained popularity during the pandemic, popping up everywhere as an easier alternative to searching for businesses and information online – but now scammers have found a way to use them against you.

“And the newest method is quishing, which uses QR codes. These are publicly accessible or hidden QR codes that people scan, so they don’t go to the website they think they’re going to, but instead go to the scammer’s website,” Nusbaum said.

These websites appear to be from trusted financial institutions and ask you to enter your personal information such as a PIN and your social security number, so be careful.

If you or a family member become a victim of identity theft, it is important to act as quickly as possible.

To do this, proceed as follows:

• First, report the scam to the Federal Trade Commission. You can do this at IdentityTheft.gov.
• Set up a fraud alert or security hold on your credit reports and review current data on them to make sure there is no suspicious activity.
• If your personal financial information has been compromised, contact the financial institutions and lenders you work with and notify them.

And remember, the U.S. Postal Service does not send text messages.

A good rule of life: If an unknown sender sends you a link via email, do not click on it.

If the message contains spelling mistakes, that’s a big red flag. Also, take a closer look at the sender’s email address or phone number, as while they’re usually similar to the real one, there’s always a difference.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, email, phone calls and text messages were the most common contact methods used by scammers in 2023.