▷ LKA-RP: New Fraudulent Warning: Malware instead of Packages

10.02.2021 – 15:20

Bureau of Criminal Police of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate

Mainz (OTS)

The Rhineland-Palatinate Criminal Police Office (LKA) is warning of a new scam using fake SMS via package notifications, which are spreading across the country and have already occurred in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Victims receive an SMS on their cell phone that says “Your package has been sent.” When you next click on the supposedly “duckdns.org” confirmation link, the malware is downloaded undetected and installed on the mobile phone.

This malware redirects sensitive data unnoticed, spies on the contact list of the affected party, and then independently sends SMS messages containing the malware to different phone numbers, which may incur additional costs.

In one case, about 1,000 SMS messages were sent to her contacts via the smartphone of a Mainz woman, causing damage to the three-digit range.

With this scam, perpetrators are taking advantage of the online shopping boom – after all, many people are currently waiting for a package, so it’s easy for them to fall for the scam and click on the link.

The following is recommended for recipients of such SMS:

   - den Link nicht anklicken
   - falls der Link angeklickt wurde, Mobiltelefon sofort in den 
     Flugmodus schalten
   - Mobilfunkanbieter informieren
   - Drittanbietersperre einrichten
   - Strafanzeige erstatten 

Please contact:

Bureau of Criminal Police of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate
press office

Phone: 06131-65-2009 / -2053
Fax: 06131-65-2125
Email: [email protected]
www.polizei.rlp.de/lka

Original content by: Landeskriminalamt Rheinland-Pfalz, transmitted via news aktuell

Brooke Vargas

"Devoted gamer. Webaholic. Infuriatingly humble social media trailblazer. Lifelong internet expert."

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