If You Receive This Message From Walmart, Don't Open It, Experts Warn
Falling for this scam could leave you vulnerable to security and safety issues.
Much of our lives moved online after the COVID pandemic hit. You now might be used to getting nearly everything you need using online shopping, from clothes to groceries to other household essentials. Whether in stores or not, we tend to trust the companies we've shopped with before—like Walmart, whose e-commerce market has grown by 79 percent over the last year, according to its 2021 fiscal year report. Unfortunately, that trust could be used against you. Experts are now warning about a new scam using Walmart's name. Read on to find out which message from Walmart you should ignore.
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If you get an email from Walmart about a missed delivery, don't open it.
Have you recently received an email from Walmart about a package you don't even remember ordering? If so, don't open it. Bleeping Computer first reported on May 29 that a phishing campaign is underway using Walmart's name. According to the outlet, some users are receiving emails from "Walmart" that claim there was a delivery issue. The message has a subject line that reads, "Your Package delivery Problem Notification ID#" and the email states that the company cannot deliver your package because of an incorrect mailing address.
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The message prompts you to send your address to scammers.
The message asks users to reply with the correct shipping address and has an "Update Address" button attached to the email. However, if you click the button, your mail program will be opened to create a new email with the subject "Update my Address," which will be sent to multiple email addresses connected to the phishing scam—not to Walmart. This information could help hackers conduct identify theft attacks, gain access to other accounts in your name, or perform targeted phishing attacks on you to gain further information, Bleeding Computer warns.
Walmart says not to provide personal information to an email that requires you to click on a link.
Walmart is aware that some hackers will attempt phishing scams using the company's name. With that in mind, the company says that you should never reply to an email that requires you to click on a link to provide more personal information or requires you to supply personal information directly in the email. Phishing emails often contain very poor grammar, have no order number or details about the order, and are not from an official @walmart.com domain.
"If you received an order confirmation email from Walmart but you did not place an order, it may be a phishing scam attempting to gather information, or in some cases, spread malware," Walmart warns on its website. "If you actually placed an order and are suspicious about the email you received, log onto your Walmart.com account to check your order status."
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This is not the first Walmart scam this year.
Walmart is a trusted brand, and it's clear that hackers and scammers are using that to their advantage: This isn't the first scam this year to use Walmart's name. ConsumerAffairs reported on March 26 that a Walmart gift bag scam had gone viral on Facebook. Scammers created a post on a fake Walmart Facebook page claiming that the retailer was giving away gift bags filled with products and a $75 voucher to those who shared and commented on the post. However, the post asked people to validate their entries by clicking on a specific link that prompted them to enter personal information.
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