Scam alert: the latest delivery scams to watch out for

Scammers attempt to con victims with claims of 'missing address information' and requests to 'reschedule' a delivery.

Fake delivery messages, often sent at scale, can easily catch people out with convincing claims designed to part you with your personal and financial details. 

Below, we look at the latest delivery scam messages circulating, so you know what to watch out for.

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Evri scam texts

Which? has come across several scam texts claiming to be from Evri, but all are sent from random (likely spoofed) mobile numbers. 

All of these messages tell you that something is preventing your package from being delivered to you.

The reasons given for a failed delivery include ‘incomplete address information,’ ‘package damage and missing postal code’ and ‘the delivery address not being clear'. 

All of the messages also included phishing links which, when we investigated them, led to malicious websites that asked for your personal and payment information.

Some of the links use a short URL generator to mask the real URLs of the dodgy websites, and others lead to a QR code which, if scanned, can download malware to your device.

You can visit Evri’s official website to track your parcel.

Read more: QR codes are still being hijacked for subscription traps and scams

Evri and UPS delivery emails

Which? also examined scam emails impersonating Evri and UPS.

These emails aim to trick you into visiting malicious websites to hand over personal and financial information.

The emails included claims that your ‘delivery’ wasn't possible and attempts to get you to follow a link to ‘confirm your shipping details,’ or to ‘reschedule a redelivery’ because you weren’t in.

Avoiding and reporting scam delivery messages

The safest way to track a delivery is to check the tracking information in your order confirmation email, or visit the official website of the delivery company. Do not follow links in messages.

If you have clicked on a malicious link, then you should avoid logging in to any accounts on your device until you have completed a factory reset of your device. You should also consider installing an antivirus program. 

You can forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk to report them. Scam texts can be reported by forwarding them to 7726 and dodgy websites can be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre.

If you become the victim of a scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud, or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.