Buy now, pay later services Afterpay have been hit by scammers sending imposter emails to customers and non-customers alike. Afterpay says the scams are among a series of scams plaguing the financial services industry.
The above image is from an email. It appears its from Afterpay but if you look closely at the from address, it is not a legitimate email address. The other thing to look out for is if you hover your mouse over the "Log in to your account" button it shows you the web address (URL) that it is trying to direct you to. Both are tell tale signs of a scam.
Afterpay said in a statement: “There was no breach of data or privacy related to these messages.” “We collaborate with our peers across the information security industry, including government agencies, to address phishing scams. “We’ve communicated with customers who notified us that they can safely ignore unexpected messages ... and, if non-Afterpay customers received a message, the message does not mean they now have an Afterpay account.”
The company warned users not to click on links inside unexpected text messages or emails, and not to respond with any personal information.
Scamwatch has recorded a total of 32,700 text message scams in the last year with a cumulative financial loss of $9,128,065. A total of $4,731,900 has been lost to phishing scams. The scam watchdog reports that the older the age demographic, the larger the cumulative financial loss.
It advises Australians to “verify the legitimacy of a contact, find them through an independent source such as a phone book, past bill or online search” before trusting an unexpected text.