I received an email today which initially, I thought was possibly one of those scam emails we receive all the time. It was a plain text email with the usual links, no real branding, letting me know a delivery was about the arrive. The problem is, it was a legitimate email from Australia Post as a result of a purchase from an online retailer. The retailer uses Australia Post for warehousing and delivery. When people place an order with the online retailer they simply send of an email and Australia Post does the rest.
The problem I see is that as more people buy online we’ll become so used to receiving this type of notification. It only takes scammers a few minutes to create a fake email which looks exactly the same and could easily trick someone. A client of mine once opened such an email because they were expecting a delivery and infected their computer, so real experience shows it is happening.
To me there was no need for this email. I’d received an email at the time of ordering and the email had the link so I could check the progress of the delivery and already knew it was about to arrive. This type of email from Australia Post will only make it easier for people to be tricked an infect their computer or be scammed.
If you receive any unexpected email I suggest you don’t click on a link in the email. Go to the web site and enter in the details you need to, to get the information you want. The link in the email is only a convenience and that convenience is causing thousands of Australians to infect their computer with a resulting expensive repair bill.
Take care with unexpected emails.
Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
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