Fraud, PostNord | Postnord warns about scams: - It's easy to get caught in a glue stick

Christmas and Black Friday shopping are just around the corner — or they’ve already begun. Scammers know they can take advantage of this.

“We see that scammers like to use what’s going on in the community in their attempts to scam you,” says Kai Rohr, Chief Research Officer at KnowBe4 Research.

Two examples of the Corona pandemic and filing tax returns. It may be easier to get fooled if the attempted scam is similar to something you could actually get, from a representative you trust, Royer continues.

Very similar to real emails

All well-known brands, public institutions and shops are at risk of being mistreated by scammers, the resource writes in a press release.

Postnord delivers parcels all over Norway, and finds firsthand that its trademark is being misused in attempted fraud.

– At Postnord, we have seen many examples of fraudulent emails or SMS messages that are very similar to those we send ourselves. I fully understand that it’s easy to walk on a glue stick, says Lars Braaten, Postnord’s head of security.

They use our logo, colors and symbols similar to what we use ourselves, he adds.

Have you been scammed and want to share your experience? Contact the journalist here.

You should pay attention to this

Bråten highlights a detail that will show you whether the emails are real or fake.

– but there are a few things you can check to make sure it’s a genuine Postnord query. One is that the email address the delivery information comes from will always be [email protected]. If the return address is something other than this, the email isn’t from us, says Bratten.

Checking the sender’s email is a general tip if you think someone is trying to scam you. Postnord’s head of security believes typing and spelling in emails is another tip for detecting fraud attempts:

– Phishing attempts often contain more typos than real emails. In addition, it is important to consider whether this is actually an inquiry that you are waiting for.

Additionally, Bråten encourages you to hover your mouse over any links before clicking on them.

This is to ensure that they lead to the website they claim to be. The safest thing to do, Roer says, is to sign into the service yourself in a separate browser or app, and verify that the information from the email is correct.