Missed delivery text: real carrier or scam?

How fake delivery texts work

The message says a parcel couldn’t be delivered, is on hold for an unpaid fee, or needs your address confirmed, and gives you a link. Canada Post describes a typical one: a delivery “on hold due to unpaid shipping fees” and a link to pay so it can be released. The page behind the link copies the carrier’s look and asks for your card details or personal information. Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre says these messages often look like a receipt, a delivery notification or something urgent, and Royal Mail lists shortened links such as bit.ly and unfamiliar web addresses among the common signs.

They work because so many of us are expecting a parcel. If you’re shopping for US Thanksgiving on Thursday 26 November 2026, for Black Friday or for Christmas, you probably are too. Canada’s Anti-Fraud Centre puts fake shipping messages on its list of the twelve frauds of the holidays.

What the real carriers say

• USPS only texts or emails you if you asked for tracking with a tracking number, and those texts don’t contain a link. Report fakes to spam@uspis.gov.
• Royal Mail only texts or emails if the sender asked for tracking. For an underpaid item it leaves a grey “Fee to Pay” card; it may also text about customs charges if the sender gave your details. It never asks for bank details or passwords.
• Evri texts come from the sender name “Evri” and only link to its tracking page on evri.com. It never asks you to reschedule or pay by text.
• Canada Post leaves a delivery notice card and only texts from 272727 or 55555 if you signed up. It never texts to ask for payment.
• Australia Post is taking links out of its tracking texts, and never asks for a payment you aren’t expecting.
• An Post never sends a link asking for payment for a parcel, and never charges to redeliver.
• FedEx never asks for payment to release a package. The exception it names is duties and taxes on an international parcel, which you can check in its Import Tool.
• UPS says a real UPS contact can always give you a tracking number to check on ups.com, and that you should never pay by wire, money order, gift card or cash.
• DHL only links to its own websites, such as dhl.com, and never emails from free services like Gmail.

How to use the checker

Choose the carrier the text names. The card shows that carrier’s web addresses and its own rules, taken from its fraud page on 5 November 2026. Paste the link and the checker finds its registrable domain, the part someone actually owns, and compares it with that carrier’s addresses. A link that starts with “usps.com” but carries on to another name is flagged, because the website it opens is the other name. A shortened link is flagged because it hides where it goes.

Even a link to the carrier’s real website is safest typed in yourself. Track the parcel in the carrier’s app or on its website: Canada Post calls that the safest way to see whether any fee, such as duty and taxes, is really due.

If you paid a “redelivery fee” or typed in your details

1. Call your bank or card company now, using the number on your card. Tell them the payment was a scam and ask them to stop the card.
2. Report the text: forward it to 7726 in the US, UK or Canada, and send it to the carrier’s own reporting address on its card above.
3. Report the loss: see our report page for your country.
4. Change any password you typed into the fake page.

Common mistakes

• Trusting the sender name. Australia Post warns that criminals can set a text’s sender name to look like theirs.
• Replying “STOP”. Canada Post says not to reply, even when the message tells you to.
• Paying because the fee is tiny. Canada Post says these messages are an attempt to collect your information to commit fraud; the small fee is how they get your card details.

A real parcel that never arrived from an online shop is a different problem: Foxglove Goods has delivery complaint letters and a fake shop checklist.