Delivery scam calls and texts in the UK: how to spot and stop them

Fake 'missed delivery' texts and delivery scam calls are among the most common frauds in the UK, and they work because almost everyone is expecting a parcel from time to time. A message claiming to be from Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, DHL or another courier lands at just the right moment, says there's a problem with your delivery, and asks you to pay a small 'fee' or 'confirm details' through a link — and because the request seems trivial and plausible, people tap it without thinking. This guide explains exactly how delivery scams work, the recognisable red flags, what the scammers are really after, and precisely what to do if you receive one (or have already clicked). The core message is simple: a genuine courier never asks you to pay a fee or confirm card details via a link in an unexpected text or a pushy phone call — so that request, on its own, is the scam.

#Why delivery scams are so effective

Delivery scams succeed because they exploit something almost universal: at any given moment, a large share of people are genuinely waiting for a parcel. Online shopping means a 'missed delivery' message rarely feels implausible — there's usually *something* on its way, so the brain fills in the gap and assumes the message is about that. Scammers lean hard on this. They send these messages in enormous volumes, knowing that even a tiny success rate across millions of texts is highly profitable, and they time their campaigns around busy shopping periods when even more people are expecting deliveries. The request also seems small and low-risk — a 're-delivery fee' of a pound or two, or just 'confirming your address' — which lowers your guard in a way a demand for hundreds of pounds never would. That modest ask is the hook; the real prize is your card details, which the fake payment page captures the moment you enter them.

There's a psychological layer too. Delivery scams combine mild urgency ('your parcel will be returned to the depot') with a plausible, everyday context, which is a far more effective combination than the dramatic threats used in other scams. You're not frightened, just mildly inconvenienced and keen to sort it out — exactly the frame of mind in which people skip the checks they'd normally run. Understanding this is the first defence: the moment you recognise that 'a small parcel problem I can fix with a quick tap' is the *designed* feeling, you can step back and treat the message the way you'd treat any unexpected contact asking for money or details. For the broader principle of judging the contact rather than trusting the number it came from, our is this number a scammer? guide is a useful companion.

#How the delivery scam works, step by step

1. 1

   The bait message

   A text or call claims to be a courier (Royal Mail, DPD, Evri, DHL, etc.) about a missed delivery, an unpaid fee, an address problem or a parcel 'held at the depot'.

2. 2

   The link or call-back

   It pushes you to a link to 'reschedule' or 'pay a fee', or asks you to call a number. The link leads to a convincing fake courier website.

3. 3

   The data harvest

   The fake site asks for your name, address, phone number and — the real target — your card or bank details, supposedly to pay a small fee.

4. 4

   The follow-up

   Days later, a scammer may phone pretending to be your bank's fraud team, using the details you entered to sound convincing and to extract more.

That final step is what makes delivery scams especially dangerous, and it's why they're not 'just' a £1.99 con. The small payment page is really a data-harvesting exercise: once the fraudsters have your name, address, phone number and partial card details, they can launch a far more convincing follow-up scam — often a phone call days later, claiming to be your bank, that uses those very details to win your trust before trying to empty your account. So the harm from tapping a delivery-scam link can arrive long after the text, in a form that looks unrelated. Recognising the whole chain helps you take the initial message seriously even though the immediate 'ask' looks tiny.

#The red flags that give a delivery scam away

Delivery scams vary in their cover story and the courier they impersonate, but they share a recognisable shape. Learn this shape and you'll spot the great majority regardless of which brand they hide behind.

• An unexpected message about a fee. Real couriers don't text you out of the blue demanding a small payment to release a parcel.
• A link to tap. Genuine tracking is done in the courier's own app or website, not via a link in a surprise text.
• A request for card or bank details. No legitimate re-delivery process needs your full card details entered on a linked page.
• Urgency. 'Your parcel will be returned within 24/48 hours' is manufactured pressure to make you act before thinking.
• Odd web addresses. The link often uses a misspelt or unrelated domain dressed up to look official — not the courier's real site.
• Slightly-off wording. Awkward phrasing, missing details (no tracking number, no item name), or a generic 'Dear customer'.
• A number that doesn't match. The sender is an ordinary mobile or an unfamiliar number, not the courier's official channel.

If a message ticks one or more of these boxes, treat it as a scam until proven otherwise — and the way to prove otherwise is never to tap the link, but to check independently. A genuine delivery problem can always be verified through the courier's official app or website, or through the retailer you actually ordered from, using a tracking number you already have. Our scam numbers guide expands on the common scripts these messages use.

#The most-impersonated couriers

Scammers impersonate whichever delivery brands are most widely used, because familiarity breeds trust. Royal Mail is among the most commonly faked, typically with a 'we attempted to deliver your parcel but a shipping fee is due' message and a link to pay — Royal Mail itself has repeatedly warned that it never asks for payment by text in this way. DPD and Evri (formerly Hermes) feature heavily, often with 'we missed you, reschedule your delivery here' texts. DHL, UPS, FedEx, Amazon logistics and An Post (for those near the Irish border or expecting cross-border parcels) all get impersonated too. The brand named in the message is irrelevant to whether it's a scam — what matters is the *behaviour*: an unexpected text, a link, a fee or details requested, and urgency. A real courier communication, by contrast, refers to a specific tracking number and item, doesn't demand card details via a random link, and can always be confirmed through the official app.

#Delivery scam calls, not just texts

While most delivery scams arrive as texts (smishing), they also come as phone calls — and these can be more persuasive because a live voice can improvise and apply pressure. A delivery scam call might claim there's a customs charge or import fee on a parcel from abroad, a problem with your address that needs 'confirming' over the phone, or a failed delivery that requires a card payment to reschedule. Some use a recorded message ('press 1 to speak to our delivery team') that routes you to a scammer or an expensive premium line. As with texts, the giveaways are the same: an unexpected call about a parcel you can't specifically identify, a request for payment or card details over the phone, and pressure to act now. A genuine courier doesn't cold-call demanding card details to release a standard domestic parcel.

The safe response to any delivery scam call is to not give any details and hang up, then verify independently if you think there's any chance it's real. If a genuine customs or handling charge applies to an international parcel, the courier will have a proper, documented process you can confirm through their official website — not a phone demand for your card number on the spot. Never pay or confirm card details on an inbound call, however reasonable the small sum sounds. If you want to check the number that called, our who called me guide walks through how to look it up and judge it, our reverse phone lookup guide shows how to research a specific number, and our is this number a scammer? guide covers the single most reliable test: a genuine organisation is always happy for you to hang up and verify, while a scammer resists it. Many of these calls also rely on caller-ID spoofing to look more convincing, which our spoofed UK numbers guide explains in detail — the displayed number is never proof of who is really calling.

#What to do if you receive a delivery scam

1. 1

   Don't tap, don't pay, don't reply

   Don't click the link, don't enter any details, don't pay any fee, and don't reply (even to opt out — it confirms your number is live).

2. 2

   Check tracking the proper way

   If you're genuinely expecting a parcel, check its status only in the courier's official app/website or via the retailer you ordered from, using a tracking number you already have.

3. 3

   Forward the text to 7726

   Forward scam texts free to 7726 so your network can investigate and block the source. Report scam websites and emails through the official channels.

4. 4

   Block and delete

   Block the sender's number and delete the message. You don't need to identify who sent it to protect yourself.

5. 5

   If you clicked or paid, act fast

   Contact your bank immediately (dial 159 or use the number on your card), change exposed passwords, watch for follow-up 'bank' calls, and report to Action Fraud.

The single most important habit is to decouple checking your parcel from the message in front of you. If a text or call makes you wonder 'do I actually have a parcel coming?', the answer is never to tap its link to find out — it's to open the courier's official app, or go to the retailer's order page, where the real status lives. This one reflex defeats the overwhelming majority of delivery scams, because it removes the only thing they depend on: you interacting on *their* terms, through *their* link, rather than through a channel you trust.

#A realistic example: the Royal Mail 'shipping fee' text

Consider the most common version. You get a text that reads: 'Royal Mail: Your package has a £1.99 unpaid shipping fee. To avoid it being returned, please pay here: [link].' It looks official, the amount is trivial, and you probably *are* expecting something. You tap the link, land on a page that looks just like Royal Mail's, and enter your name, address and card details to 'pay the £1.99'. The page may even show a confirmation. But you've just handed your card details and personal data to fraudsters — and the £1.99 was never the point. Within days you might get a call from someone claiming to be your bank's fraud team, who 'confirms' your name and address (because you gave it) and says they've spotted suspicious activity, before trying to get you to move money to a 'safe account'.

Here's the calm way through it. First, recognise that Royal Mail — and every legitimate courier — does not ask for shipping fees via a text link; this is so common that Royal Mail publishes warnings about exactly this scam. Second, don't tap the link to 'just check'; if you think a parcel might genuinely be held, go to the Royal Mail website or app directly and check using a real tracking reference. Third, forward the scam text to 7726 and delete it. And crucially, if a 'bank' calls afterwards, apply the golden rule: hang up and call your bank back on the number on your card or via 159 — a real bank never asks you to move money to a safe account or read out a code. Our report a scam call guide explains where to report each part of this.

#If you've already clicked or paid

If you've tapped a delivery-scam link, entered details or paid a 'fee', act quickly and without embarrassment — these scams catch careful, capable people every single day, precisely because they're so mundane and well-timed. If you entered card details, contact your bank immediately on a trusted number (159, or the number on your card) to stop payments and protect your account; they can block the card and watch for fraudulent transactions. If you entered a password you use elsewhere, change it on those accounts straight away and turn on two-factor authentication. Be especially alert in the following days for a follow-up phone call claiming to be your bank, the police or the courier — this is the second stage, using the data you entered to sound credible. Treat any such call as a scam: hang up and verify independently. Keep a note of dates, numbers and what happened, and report the fraud to Action Fraud so it can be investigated and others warned.

#Protecting yourself and others long-term

Beyond handling individual messages, a few habits make delivery scams far less likely to catch you. Use couriers' official apps for the deliveries you're expecting, so you have a trusted place to check status and you're never reliant on a text link. Know your tracking numbers — when you order something, the retailer gives you a reference; a real delivery update will relate to it, and a scam text won't. Treat every parcel fee request with suspicion, because legitimate domestic deliveries you've already paid for don't suddenly require a small extra payment by text. And slow down: the few seconds it takes to think 'is this how my courier actually contacts me?' is exactly what the scam is trying to deny you. Forwarding scam texts to 7726 also helps everyone, because it feeds the networks' efforts to trace and block the sources.

It's also worth helping the people around you, because delivery scams are so widespread that someone you know is probably receiving them too. Older or less tech-confident relatives can be especially vulnerable, not because they're foolish but because the messages are so plausible and the 'fix' looks so simple. Share the one rule that covers all of it — never pay a parcel fee or enter details from a link in a text; always check in the courier's official app instead — and reassure them that checking with you first is always the right move, never a bother. Making the safe behaviour normal and judgement-free is what closes the gap between 'this feels a bit off' and 'but I'll just quickly sort it', which is precisely the gap these scams exploit. For the wider toolkit on identifying and reporting suspicious numbers, our scam numbers and report a scam call guides pull the practical steps together.

#Why a 'scam number list' won't save you here

People often hope for a definitive list of 'delivery scam numbers' to block, but this is the wrong tool for the problem. Scammers send these messages from constantly-changing numbers — cheap, disposable SIMs and internet-based senders churned through in huge quantities — and they spoof or rotate sender IDs so fast that any fixed list is out of date almost immediately. Blocking the number that texted you today is sensible, but tomorrow's scam will come from a different one. The durable defence is therefore not a list but a behaviour: recognise the *shape* of the scam (unexpected message, link, fee or details requested, urgency, courier branding) and respond the same way every time, regardless of the number. That approach never goes stale, works for every courier brand and every new number, and protects you against the next variant before it's even been reported. Checking a specific number for recent community reports is still useful for confirming a suspicion you already have, but it is the recognition of the underlying pattern — not a frozen blocklist that ages out within days — that genuinely keeps you safe over the long term, no matter which courier or number the next attempt hides behind.

#Bottom line

Delivery scam calls and texts work because nearly everyone is expecting a parcel sometimes — but the rule that defeats them is simple: a genuine courier never asks you to pay a fee or confirm card details via a link in an unexpected text or a pushy phone call. Don't tap links, don't pay 'fees', and don't enter details; check any real delivery only through the courier's official app or the retailer you ordered from. Forward scam texts to 7726, block and delete them, and watch out for the follow-up 'bank' call that uses your harvested details. If you've already paid or entered card details, contact your bank on 159 immediately and report to Action Fraud. For the wider method, see is this number a scammer? and who called me.