How the scam works
A text claims your parcel couldn't be delivered — an unpaid shipping fee, a customs charge, an "incomplete address" — and offers a link to fix it. The link leads to a convincing clone of the Royal Mail, Evri or DPD website that takes your card details, and often your address and phone number for follow-up fraud. A common second stage: days later, a call from your "bank" about suspicious activity, armed with the details you just typed in.
This scam thrives because it needs no cleverness — most UK households have a parcel in transit at any given moment, and a £1.99 "fee" is below almost everyone's suspicion threshold.
What the scam texts look like
The rules that settle it
- Royal Mail never asks for payment by text. A genuine fee (like underpaid postage or customs) is collected via a grey "Fee to pay" card through your door or on the official website.
- Check the domain. Genuine is royalmail.com and evri.com — scammers use royalmail-redelivery.info, evri-parcels.net and hundreds of similar throwaways, often behind bit.ly links.
- Track in the app, not the link. If you're expecting a parcel, open the courier's official app or type their website yourself — real delivery issues appear there.
How to report it
Forward suspicious Royal Mail texts and emails to reportascam@royalmail.com, and report scam texts of any kind by forwarding them to 7726 (free on all UK networks). If you've entered card details, call your bank immediately and get the card blocked — and expect a fake "bank fraud team" call within days, which you now know to hang up on.
Got one of these messages?
Don't guess. Paste it into the free Scam-Less checker and get a verdict with a plain-English explanation in seconds.
Check it now — freeCommon questions
I'm actually expecting a parcel — how do I check the text is real?
Don't tap the link. Open the courier's official app or type royalmail.com or evri.com yourself and enter your tracking number. A genuine delivery problem or fee will show there; if nothing shows, the text was a scam.
Royal Mail says I owe a fee — is that ever genuine?
It can be, for underpaid postage or customs — but genuine fees come via a grey 'Fee to pay' card through your door or on the official royalmail.com site, never through a payment link in a text message.
Where do I report scam delivery texts in the UK?
Forward the text to 7726 (free on all UK networks) and Royal Mail-branded scams to reportascam@royalmail.com. You can also paste the message into the free Scam-Less checker for an instant verdict before you decide anything.