Criminals impersonate legitimate delivery companies to commit fraud. They may contact you hoping you are waiting for a parcel to arrive.
The criminal might send you a text, email or other message claiming they have been unable to make a delivery and ask you to pay a fee or provide additional details to rearrange. They may include a link to a convincing but fraudulent website asking for personal or financial information. The link could also download malware to your device.
Many legitimate delivery companies will have a ‘track your parcel/delivery’ function on their websites. It is much safer to go to these directly on your browser, rather than following links sent to you in texts, emails or other messages.
How to protect yourself:
- Remember that criminals will send out texts, emails and other messages with links leading to fake websites used to steal personal and financial information. These messages may appear to be from trusted organisations and may use official branding to convince you they’re genuine.
- Always access websites by typing them into the web browser and avoid clicking on links in texts.
- Remain vigilant and check delivery notifications very carefully to ensure they are genuine.
- Check what you’ve ordered online and track your parcel through the websites of legitimate delivery companies, such as those below:
- Always question claims that you are due goods or services that you haven’t ordered or are unaware of, especially if you have to pay any fees upfront.
- Customers can report suspected scam texts to their mobile network provider by forwarding them to 7726.
