Trading Standards - Delivery Scams

29th August 2024

According to the Big Scottish Scam Survey, the most common scams are related to deliveries. 42% of respondents to this year's survey had experienced a delivery scam within the past year.

One survey respondent received a text message saying their parcel had been damaged in transit. They were asked to pay £2 so that a new delivery could be made later that day. They were expecting a delivery and needed the item, so paid the £2.

Five minutes later their parcel was delivered and they realised the message had been a scam.

Another scam text message appeared to be from Evri and asked the recipient to pay a shipping fee of £1.45 to release a parcel being held at their depot.

The links in these messages typically lead to malicious websites which use branding of legitimate delivery companies and ask you to enter your contact and payment details, either to pay a storage fee or to arrange to have the parcel redelivered.

How to Avoid
Legitimate parcel delivery services will not contact you unexpectedly to ask for personal or payment details.
If you receive an unexpected message about a parcel delivery, don't click on any links or follow any instructions to download an app to your phone.

If you are expecting a parcel, track the delivery on the company's official website or app rather than using links or contact details provided in an unexpected message.

Find Out More
ScamShare Spotlight PDF on delivery scams: www.tsscot.co.uk/Spotlight-Delivery.pdf