Rumours online warn viewers not to click links on suspicious USPS text messages because this is a way for sex traffickers to obtain your exact location for the purposes of abducting you.
We’ve seen a large uptick in suspicious and scam text messages recently. And so it was perhaps inevitable that amid the genuine warnings about these scams we’d also see some misinformation about them as well.
The above screenshot of a viral video on TikTok made claims that these messages and their links will give sex traffickers your location if you click on them.
It’s true that these messages like the one illustrated above do not come from USPS, and it’s also true that you should avoid clicking the links in these messages.
However the assertion that these messages are actually a ploy by sex traffickers to obtain your location is demonstrably false. We’ve previously discussed how such rumours are false when they spread in a different format in 2020.
Firstly, such messages are actually a part of phishing campaigns against users in a bid to try and trick recipients of these messages into either downloading harmful files to their device or to trick them into inputting sensitive information into spoof websites for the purposes of identity fraud. There are no known or documented instances of standard phishing scams like these being used for the purposes of sex trafficking.
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Secondly, the claims made by these rumours are not technically feasible since clicking a link in a message does not provide anyone with your exact address.
Thirdly, such rumours fail the logic test. We know through reporting that these fake USPS messages (as well as messages targeting other brands) are sent out to countless individuals, not one single demographic. The rumours fail to address how such scams could help sex traffickers identify potential victims for the sex trafficking trade, and as such, how such messages would benefit sex traffickers in the first place.
And finally, entities related to protecting women from sex trafficking have routinely dismissed such claims as false. The Polaris Project that aims to combat sex trafficking in North America says on its website –
Text Messages About Unclaimed Packages
Rumor: Text messages with links to claim unclaimed packages are part of a scheme by sex traffickers to gain information to find and recruit or kidnap potential victims.
Reality: These text messages may be part of a “smishing” (SMS phishing) scam and there is no evidence that they are connected to sex trafficking.
As such we rank these claims as false.
In the meantime we discuss the real threats associated with these texts here.