SMS Phishing or Spam

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SMS Phishing message
SMS Phishing message

I just received an awesome SMS phishing message scam, and I wanted to share with others, to show how to spot the scam.

To the right is a photo of it:

First, I do read the whole message, and in the second reading that we can really pick it apart.

So the message claims to be about a USPS (United States Postal Service) package, and that it can’t be delivered with out up to date address information.  Right at the start we can see something is up.  The sender is an “@icloud.com” email address, but it is about the USPS?  I am pretty sure they have a bunch of domains that are closer to their name, like this one: www.usps.com.  I really don’t think an organization the size of the USPS needs to use the free “icloud.com” account.

The next “nail in the coffin” is the domain the message wants you to go to : https[:]//usps[.]com-helpfo[.]com/

Here is the analysis from Virus Total. URLScan.io also does not like this site.  For a “supposedly” US Government entity, this website makes a lot of connections to IPv4 addresses in China.  Not overly malicious, but strange indeed.

All in all, bad link. bad message.