Beware Browser Extensions For Package Tracking

‘Tis the season to be jolly – and the season when all the miscreants crawl out from under their respective rocks.  More packages are shipped during December than at any other month of the year. Perhaps you’re expecting some packages soon. 

Be careful: This is the time when spammers flood inboxes with fake FedEx, UPS, DHL, USPS, and other shipping companies’ shipping confirmations and you must always be on the lookout for these fakes – and never click in a spam email that says “Track your package”… or the package you’ll be tracking will track its way right on to your computer in the form or malware, ransomware or some other malevolent file. We’ve got some more tip to help you stay safe during the holiday season – you can read them here.

And… this year, we’ve noticed, there’s a new game in town –  the browser extension for tracking packages game.. First of all – you sure don’t need a browser extension to track packages.  You can track your packages by pasting a valid package tracking number in the address bar of Chrome (and probably other browsers too – I’ve only tried it in Chrome) Once you  paste it in, Google will automatically recognize the shipping company (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL)  and show you where your package is and when you can expect it to be delivered.

We’ve uninstalled a few of these package tracking extensions from computers we’ve worked on this holiday season, and we just wanted you to know that you don’t need them and many of them are PUPs or malware.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!