The Fake Parcel Text That Empties Your Bank Account

You are expecting a delivery. Your phone buzzes with a text message: a courier cannot complete your drop-off and you must pay a small redelivery fee to reschedule. The link looks plausible, the logo is familiar, and the fee is trivial, often under two euros. That is precisely why this scam converts so well.

The link takes you to a cloned website that mirrors a real courier's interface down to the font choices. You enter your card details to pay the fee. Within hours, fraudsters attempt larger transactions on your account. The initial charge was never the point; your full card credentials were.

How to Spot It Before You Click

Legitimate courier companies do not request payment by text message for redelivery. They also do not send links to domains that differ even slightly from their official address, an extra hyphen, an unusual country-code extension, or a random string of characters before the brand name are all red flags. Hover over the link (or press and hold on mobile) to inspect the real URL before doing anything else.

If you are genuinely expecting a parcel, go directly to the courier's official website by typing the address yourself, or use the tracking number provided in your original order confirmation. Never follow a link embedded in an unsolicited SMS.

What to Do If You Have Already Clicked

Act immediately. Contact your bank or card issuer and ask them to freeze the card and dispute any unauthorised charges. Most consumer-protection frameworks require banks to refund victims of authorised push-payment fraud, but the process is easier when you report quickly. Change passwords on any account that shared credentials with the fake site.

Report the scam text to your national cybercrime authority and, where possible, forward it to your mobile operator's spam-reporting short code. This helps block the sending number for other potential victims. Keep a screenshot of the message as evidence, you may need it when filing a formal complaint.