The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, the United States Postal Inspector's Office and local Postal Officials urge residents to be cautious if they receive a text message from an unknown number, indicating the Post Office requires a response regarding a package.

While the Postal Service offers free tools for tracking specific packages, it will never initiate communication with a customer by text message or e-mail or require a customer to click on a link.

Legitimate communication regarding package delivery can only be initiated by the customer, who will have to provide a tracking number.

"Anyone receiving a text seemingly from the United States Postal Service, regarding the delivery of a package, should recognize it as a scam and avoid clicking on any link contained within the text," advised Cherokee County Sheriff David Groves.

"As always, a good general rule of caution is to be suspicious of any unsolicited phone call, email or text from anyone - even those who claim to be from a known company, sweepstakes contest, bank, or government agency. If you're asked to click a link, download a  document, provide information, or obtain a pre-paid gift card or money order, it is almost certainly an attempt to scam and steal from you," concluded Sheriff Groves.