Fake delivery texts: the missed-parcel scam
You are expecting something, and a text arrives: your parcel could not be delivered, or a small customs fee is due, tap here to fix it. Because almost everyone has a package on the way, these land at exactly the right moment. That timing is the whole trick.
How the delivery scam works
The link goes to a page dressed up as the post office or a courier, asking for a small "redelivery" or "customs" fee and your card details. The fee is bait: the real goal is your card number, which is then used or sold.
Some versions instead install malware, or start a chat that talks you through "verifying" more and more of your information.
The tells
A small, oddly specific fee ("$1.99 to reschedule"). A link on a domain that is not the real carrier. Urgency ("return to sender in 24 hours"). A text for a parcel you cannot quite place, or from a carrier you did not use.
Canada Post and USPS never collect a fee by text link. The couriers that do bill duty by message, DHL among them, send it from their own short code and link only to their own domain, never a shortened one. Where duty is genuinely owed, you will also find it in the courier's own app or site.
How to check a delivery safely
A link on its own proves nothing: real carriers do text tracking links, from their own number and to their own website. Canada Post texts from 272727 or 55555 and links to canadapost-postescanada.ca. UPS texts from 69877 and links to ups.com. If the number or the website is different, or you are not expecting a parcel, do not tap. Go to the retailer's order page or the carrier's own app or website yourself, and track it there.
If there is genuinely a fee to pay, you will find it through the official site. If there is not, you just sidestepped the scam.
The short version
- A delivery text asking for a fee and card details is almost always a scam.
- Canada Post and USPS never collect card details by text link. Where duty is genuinely owed, you will also find it in the courier's own app or site.
- Check who sent the text and where the link goes. If you are unsure, track the parcel in the carrier's own app or site.
- An oddly specific small fee plus urgency is the tell.
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Common questions
How do I know if a delivery text is real?
Do not judge it by the text. Open the retailer's order page or the carrier's official app or website yourself and track the parcel there. If a real fee is owed, it will show up through the official channel, never only in a text link.
I tapped a fake delivery link but did not enter anything. Am I okay?
Usually yes; simply opening a page rarely does harm on an updated phone. Do not enter any details, close the page, and delete the text. If you did enter card details, contact your bank to freeze or replace the card.
Why do I keep getting these when I am not expecting a parcel?
They are sent in bulk to huge lists of numbers, betting that some recipients are expecting a delivery. Getting one when you are not expecting anything is a good reminder it is a scam.