
Postal Service Warns Idaho Citizens About Dangerous New ‘Vishing’ Scam
A few years ago, major carriers like AT&T and Verizon really did their customers in Idaho a solid. In 2019, they started labeling sketchy calls with words like “Potential Spam,” “Spam? Telemkt,” and “Junk.”
The new features were meant to not just help protect their customers from unwanted robocalls, but also keep them from falling for potential scams. We appreciated the heads up when we got three calls from an unknown Memphis number in as many days last week.
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While the features are pretty good, they’re not full proof. That’s why the United States Postal Inspection Service is warning Idahoans about a dangerous type of scam called “vishing.” It’s a variation of a “phishing” scam that you may be familiar with through security training provided by your employer.
What’s a Phishing Scam?
Phishing Scams are most often carried out via email. Scammers will spoof common companies like Amazon, Home Depot or Walmart and target online shoppers with emails that look like official shipping or delivery attempt notifications.
They’re hoping you won’t think twice about whether or not you recently purchased an item from the, will click the link and give them information like your username, password or credit card number so that your package won’t be “returned to sender.”
Vishing Is An Evolution of a Phishing Scam
USPIS calls the newer scam “vishing” because rather than contacting you via email, they’ll leave you a voicemail or try to talk to you if you answer the call. It’s short of “voice phishing.” The scammers often spoof a number of a legitimate government agency or bank in order to look legitimate and gain your trust. Both USPS and USPIS have been spoofed as part of these scams.

In the less scary version of the “vishing” scam, you receive a call from a number that resembles one of the USPS’s numbers. They’ll tell you you have a package waiting to be delivered but need to confirm some personal information first. One victim shared that they were asked for a credit card number to pay a small “re-delivery fee.” They took the bait and ended up finding a lot more than the $1.88 fee on their credit card statement. The USPS also does NOT charge re-delivery fees.
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In the scarier version, the scammers pretend to be a “postal inspector” that’s been assigned to investigate you for a crime. They’re completely prepared for you to be skeptical about the call and will encourage you to look up USPIS’s number on their official website. Once you see the caller ID matches, they’ll give you some info about your financial records that only you should know. The end game is to get you to send them money in order to prevent your assets from being seized.
In their warning, USPIS explains that this is NOT standard procedure. They won’t call you from the number listed on their website, won’t ask you for personal information and definitely do NOT want you to send them money. They do, however, want you to report the call to their Cyber Crime Unit and give them as many details about the call as possible.
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Gallery Credit: Michelle Heart