SCAM ALERT: Why You Should Beware of Messages About Missing Packages in KY

I get plenty of random text and voicemail messages that I know are scams. I get a variety of text messages trying to lure me into phishing scams. You get them as well, don't you?  I get messages that contain phrases like "security alert" or "fraud alert."  I get messages that are insanely sexual in nature.  Those are fun and usually are sent to my phone number and a bunch of other ones at the same time- in a big group text.  I NEVER open them or respond to them and DELETE them immediately.  You, by the way, should too.

But about a week ago, the scam attempts took a rather unexpectedly personal turn.  Candace, our receptionist here at WBKR, brought me back a handwritten note.  Someone named "Christina" called our business line and asked Candace to give me a message.  You can see it in the photo, but the gist of it was this.  I allegedly had a package that was returned to a shipping warehouse and I needed to call Christina to claim it.  She gave Candace the number- 1-855-918-4837.

At first, that sound pretty legit.  I mean, I knew I didn't know Christina, but thought the fact that she called the station to leave me a personal message made it seem like I could possibly have had a delivery attempt that failed and my package was sent back to our local post office.

However, as I started to look at the phone number, I started to get more and more suspicious. Then, I wracked my brain trying to remember if I had ordered a package that I hadn't yet received. It occurred to me, I had not.

So, I decided to do a quick internet search of that phone number. 1-855-918-4837.  It didn't take long to reveal that this number is suspicious at best.

The very first post about it on Yahoo! was this: Had a voice mail from Derek at US Standard about a priority overnight package instructing me to call back at 855-918-4837. Number was unreachable. 

In fact, a quick trip to FindWhoCallsYou.com reveals that, as of this story, that particular number has been searched over 600 times.

Obviously, I didn't call Christina back.  And, the user above, probably shouldn't have tried to call Derek back.  If you get one of these calls, don't fall for it.  It's a pretty bold move for the scammers to start calling actual business lines and asking for employees by name.  But that attempt at legitimacy doesn't make the scam any more legitimate. It's still a scam and one you should be hyper-aware of.