NASHVILLE, Tenn. — One victim that WSMV in Nashville talked to was scammed out of money after moving to a new home. He said he did not want to be identified for the story.
He said he found a charge for around $90 on his bank statement after moving to East Nashville. While setting up his utilities, he realized that he forgot to set up a forwarding address for his mail. So, he went online and googled ‘USPS address forwarding.’
He said the website he found looked like a legitimate website run by the United States Postal Service. It had the same color scheme, design and other aspects of the USPS.
“I just hurried up, filled out my information and did autofill and all of that stuff. And I paid the price for it,” he said.
But it wasn’t a USPS website. He said he hit submit thinking it would only charge around $1. However, he said that the website did not actually say the amount he would be charged.
It's a red flag that USPS customers should be aware of; make sure you know how much you're paying and what you're for.
“First off, $89.00, that’s fortunate because the average loss for this scam is between $1,500 and $1,600,” said Robyn Householder of the Better Business Bureau of Middle Tennessee.
They said they've seen an 11% increase in government scams recently.
“So what’s happening is consumers, instead of entering in the agency name, that they need the service from, they’re typing in something like ‘Change my address.' And what happens then, all these other sites populate, that look like the real thing but unfortunately are not,” Householder said.
So, make sure you’re going to USPS.gov if you need to change your address. Look for a lock symbol next to the URL and take your time before giving away any amount of money.
"I feel like if I would’ve known about it, I would’ve been paying more attention to it, but I had no idea! I was kind of just like in a rush,” the victim said.