If you’ve received a text message about a parcel delivery in the past few days, do not click on the link in the message.
That's the warning from CERT NZ, the Government's cyber security agency, which has found the message is a scam that could lead to significant financial loss for Android phone users.
CERT NZ senior incident manager Nadia Yousef told Breakfast on Thursday morning both her agency and others have had a significant number of reports about the scam recently.
“What we understand is that people are receiving a text message about a parcel delivery and they’re asking you to click a link.
“Once you click on that link, it asks you to download software and that software sends out the same message to all of your contacts and it also attempts to get really sensitive information out of your phone such as banking information and credit card information.”
Yousef estimated the police’s claim that the 4000 Kiwis who had reported the scam to them in the past 24 hours was just the “tip of the iceberg”.
“The way that the software is working is that it’s taking all of your contact information and sending it to them as well so it’s spreading very quickly,” she said.
There’s one place officials do want the message sent to though – CERT NZ.
“What we’re asking is if people are receiving these messages is to forward it to 7726,” she said.
“That brings it to us and our partners and allows us to block the links to make it so that people can’t download the software.”
Yousef said the scam has nothing to do with whether a Kiwi has recently ordered something online or not.
“It’s a bit of bad luck – these opportunistic scammers get these lists of phone numbers and then they spread it through contacts in people’s phones.”
Yousef added the scam was sophisticated and well-timed.
“It’s come at a time where a lot of the country is in lockdown and we’re all waiting for parcels and waiting for things to show up so it’s very easy to think, ‘I am waiting for something,’ and click the link.
“By the time you realise what has happened, it’s too late.”
Anyone who has clicked the link is asked to get in contact with CERT NZ as soon as possible to ensure their information can be protected.
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