Got a text about a package you don't recognize? Read this first.
- A text says there's a problem with a delivery: a failed attempt, a held package, an address to confirm, or a small fee to pay.
- It's a smishing scam. USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL don't text you a link to fix a delivery or collect a fee.
- The link opens a fake copy of the carrier's site that captures your address, card details, and sometimes more.
- Don't click. If you already entered card or personal info, follow the steps below right away.
This is a smishing scam, and it's the single most-reported text scam in the country.1 The "delivery problem" is bait. The page behind the link is built to steal your card and personal details, sometimes under cover of a small "redelivery fee."
Does this sound familiar?
Below are reconstructed examples of the messages people receive, recreated to show how they typically look on your phone. The carrier names are real services that scammers impersonate. Those carriers do not send these texts. (Illustrations, not real screenshots. Links and numbers are fictional.)
The carrier and the wording change, but the structure stays the same: a delivery problem, a deadline, and a link to a page that asks for your address and card.
How it works
This scam is fast and runs at volume. Texts go out to millions of numbers at once, timed around busy shopping periods when most people genuinely have something on the way. (The screens below are illustrations of how these pages typically appear.)
Red flags to catch it early
None of these alone is proof. Several together means stop.
Carriers don't send unsolicited tracking or payment links by text. Real USPS texts come only if you signed up, and only from their short code.2
A redelivery fee, customs charge, or postage top-up. Carriers don't collect these by text link.3
"Pay the $1.95 redelivery fee to reschedule."
Replying confirms your number is active and worth targeting again. Real carriers don't work this way.
Odd endings like .top, .vip, or .xin, extra hyphens, a misspelled name like "Fedx," or a shortener like bit.ly hiding the destination.
If you never signed up for tracking on a specific package, a text citing one is fake. Real USPS tracking numbers are very long.
"Act within 24 hours or it's returned." Pressure plus small grammar slips are common tells. Some texts even spoof a real short code to land in a genuine carrier thread.4
Most of us are, which is why this works. Here's how to check without touching the text:
- Don't tap the link or reply. Treat the whole message as fake.
- Open the carrier's real app or website yourself, by typing it in or using the app you already have, and track the order there.
- Check the order confirmation from the retailer for the real tracking number and carrier.
- In the US, USPS Informed Delivery emails you previews of incoming mail, so fake "delivery" texts lose their power.
Already clicked or entered your details?
Need the steps by payment method? See what to do if you've been scammed.
How bad it is depends on how far you got
Work through whichever applies. Sooner is better, especially with card details.
Where to report it
For the full country guide - agencies, phone numbers, and what happens after you report - see how to report a scam by country.
How big is this problem?
Fake delivery texts are now the most common text scam reported in the United States, and text scams overall are far more costly than they were a few years ago.
In its breakdown of 2024 text scams, the FTC put fake package delivery at the top, usually impersonating the U.S. Postal Service, with victims told there was a delivery problem and tricked into paying a small "redelivery fee" that was really a way to steal their card or Social Security number.1 The Postal Inspection Service is blunt about it: USPS does not send unsolicited texts with tracking links, and if you signed up for real tracking, those messages come only from an official short code.2
The texts go out at enormous scale, often from international numbers, using ready-made phishing kits. The FBI and USPS warned in 2024 that some campaigns were sophisticated enough to spoof legitimate short codes, so a fake could appear in the same thread as real carrier messages on some phones.4 The same infrastructure churns out fake toll, DMV, and unpaid-bill texts, swapping the disguise while keeping the mechanics. Some variants deliver the scam link via a QR code rather than a URL - see the QR code quishing guide.
The small fee is deliberate. A dollar or two feels too trivial to question, which is exactly the reaction the scam needs. But the fee is rarely the real prize. The card number, address, and personal details you enter are worth far more, resold or reused for fraud and identity theft long after the first charge clears.
Frequently asked questions
- How do I know if a delivery text is real?
- Real USPS texts only arrive if you signed up for Informed Delivery at usps.com. UPS and FedEx texts only come if you created a tracking alert. Real carrier texts never ask for payment or personal details to release a package.
- What if I clicked the link and entered my card details?
- Contact your card issuer immediately to dispute and freeze the card. Change any passwords you may have entered. Monitor your accounts for unauthorized charges. File a report at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- How do I report a fake USPS, UPS, or FedEx text?
- Forward the text to 7726 (SPAM). Report USPS impersonation to the USPS Inspection Service at postalinspectors.uspis.gov. File with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov and the FBI IC3 at ic3.gov.
- What is smishing?
- Smishing is SMS phishing - fraud delivered via text message rather than email. The fake delivery text is one of the most common smishing patterns. The mechanics are identical to email phishing: a fake urgent message links to a page designed to steal your information.
- Federal Trade Commission, "New FTC Data Show Top Text Message Scams of 2024" and the accompanying data spotlight (PDF), April 2025. Fake package delivery as the #1 text scam, the $470M total, the 5x rise since 2020, and the redelivery-fee tactic.
- U.S. Postal Inspection Service, "Smishing: Package Tracking Text Scams." USPS does not send unsolicited tracking-link texts; how to report; forward to 7726 and email [email protected].
- Federal Communications Commission, "How to Avoid Package Delivery Scams." Official guidance on delivery smishing and what to do.
- FBI / U.S. Postal Inspection Service 2024 warnings on USPS-branded smishing, as documented by security researchers. Surge in USPS smishing and short-code spoofing. Cited as a documented pattern rather than a single official total.
We document recurring online scam patterns using primary sources: government agencies, law enforcement, and security researchers. The carriers named here are legitimate companies being impersonated, not the source of these texts. Ads on this page do not influence our reporting. Read about how we research or who we are.