New technologies are fantastic and help us in many areas of life, but unfortunately, they also give certain undesirables more opportunity to “attack” us. Cybercriminals are always looking for ways to gain control of our devices or our bank details and, to do so, they use all kinds of tricks. A new wave of fraudulent SMS has been detected , this time supplanting DHL. We tell you more below.
This type of activity is what is known as phishing, which is when cybercriminals pose as a legitimate entity to access our device through certain mechanisms. In this latest attempt, they are supplanting DHL, but it seems that it only affects Android devices at the moment.
Beware of this SMS from DHL
The way these scam attempts proceed is always very similar. Cybercriminals send users one or more text messages or emails urging them to enter under any excuse. By doing this, we will be entering a page that, almost always, is practically identical to the original , which can easily make us fall into the trap.
When it comes to parcel services, as in this case, what these messages show is quite diverse. In this case, the fake DHL messages seem to be encouraging users to click on a link with several different excuses , for example, that a package is waiting to be delivered, including a fake tracking code on it.
In most cases, if we click on these links, we will be directed to a page where we will be asked for credit card information, but in the case of this new wave it is even worse. By clicking on the link we will be downloading and installing a dangerous Trojan on our device that will be able to access all our bank details, and even the SMS we have with our entity to obtain the codes to operate. This Trojan is also capable of uploading all the information on our device to a server, so we have to be very careful not to click if we receive a message from DHL.
Tips to avoid falling for these scams
If, unfortunately, you have received this message and have already clicked on the link, you should know that your device is already infected with this dangerous Trojan. If this is your case, the Internet Security Office (OSI) recommends that you uninstall this application as quickly as possible and that you also notify all your contacts, since generally this type of malware tends to take advantage of the agendas of its victims to continue sending fraudulent SMS.
If, on the other hand, it has arrived and you have not opened it, all you have to do is delete it immediately. The OSI also recommends that we always have the option to install applications from unknown sources disabled within the settings of Android devices, in addition to making regular backup copies so as not to lose any information in a case like this.