NEW YORK, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is reminding customers the importance of avoiding trending scams while sending and receiving gifts this year, USA Today has reported.

Perhaps one of the most popular scams is "smishing," which, in the case of holiday mail, appears as fraudulent text messages indicating package tracking, according to the report.

"Undisclosed texts with questionable tracking information and clickable links should be avoided in order to prevent scammers from gaining personal information," noted the report.

Smishing is a form of phishing, the fraudulent practice of sending messages disguised as a reputable source to induce individuals to reveal personal and/or financial information, such as social security numbers, credit and debit card numbers, and account passwords.

Smishing, specifically, is done through text messaging. A victim of smishing typically receives a deceptive text message from a scammer trying to act as a government agency, bank or other institution, like the United States Postal Service (USPS).

One should know that the USPS offers text message tracking of packages, but customers must register to initiate it. USPS does not send tracking texts or emails without a customer first requesting the service, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Enditem

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