Have you received a text lately that looks like this?

I certainly hope not. If you have, there’s probably a very high likelihood you clicked the link. Even if we were living in a normal situation, it would be almost impossible to resist finding out what you could possibly have stuck at the post office.

But we aren’t living in a normal situation. Thanks to COVID-19, we’re shipping and receiving more packages than ever. And with nationally reported postal slowdowns, a lot of those packages are stuck in shipping limbo for unusually long periods of time.

If YOUR experience of the past few months is anything like mine, you probably have 2, 3, 4…15 packages floating around in the postal network right now. And you’ve probably also lived the joy of seeing that “scheduled for delivery tomorrow” on the shipping tracker about five days past “tomorrow” with no kind of update.

So, if I was to receive this text? I wouldn’t be surprised. Not only do have no idea where some of my packages are right now, but in my late night quarantine boredom, I may have made one or two completely unnecessary purchases I no longer even remember.

…Okay, fine. It’s more than one or two. I admit it, I admit it.

Fortunately after writing so many of these blogs, I’m thoroughly convinced no one has ever sent me a legitimate text in the entire history of my owning a mobile device. I say “fortunately” because it’s an extremely convenient excuse to use when you want to ignore people.

No, I’m not ACTUALLY that paranoid yet. But I DO take text messages—and especially links in text messages—from people I don’t know very seriously. There are any number of things clicking a link can do to your device and your personal data if it’s coming from a ill-intentioned sender. It’s always good policy to do some web search homework when you receive a text message like this.

If you performed a quick web search after receiving THIS text, you’d find out pretty quickly this is another one of those risky links.

Officials are sending out a heavy word of warning to anyone who might receive a “missing package” text message.

Users clicking on the link are being navigated to phony Fed Ex and postal delivery login portals and possibly even unknowingly installing malware on their devices. This malware can lock you out of your device, steal the credentials to your email, bank apps, and other critical software, and pull sensitive data from your phone.

If you venture to log in to these fake postal delivery portals, you could also be directed to input vital personal information that could be used to steal your identity.

So, word to the wise: if you become one of the thousands of Americans who receive a text message telling you to visit a link to claim your “missing package?”

Do NOT click the link.

DO block the number and report the sender to the Federal Trade Commission.

The only “package” you’ll be missing by deleting this text message is one you DEFINITELY want to stay lost.