Wave of fake parcel delivery texts
Texts impersonating Chronopost, Colissimo or DHL demand customs fees or an address update. The link leads to a fake payment page.
A new wave of fraudulent texts is going around, posing as a delivery company. The message claims a parcel is being held, that customs fees are owed or that an address needs confirming, with a link to click urgently. The page that opens copies the carrier's official site and asks for your bank card details.
The typical message
The text plays on your expectation of a genuine parcel and on a sense of urgency. A few wordings come up again and again:
- "Your parcel could not be delivered, please update your information."
- "Customs fees of 1.99 euro are required to complete delivery."
- "Final delivery attempt today, please confirm your address."
The amount requested is deliberately tiny. The point is not that payment, but to capture your card number and then, moments later, to authorise a far larger transaction using the code sent to you by text.
How to spot the scam
- The link does not point to the carrier's official domain. Hover over it or copy it before clicking.
- The address often mixes the carrier's name with an unknown domain, for example a subdomain followed by an unusual extension.
- A real carrier will never ask for your bank card details by text to redeliver a parcel.
- A request for immediate payment, however trivial the sum, should put you on guard.
What to do
- Do not click. If in doubt, go to the carrier's official site by typing the address yourself.
- If you entered your card, contact your bank to block it without delay.
- Report the text to your national anti-spam service (in France, forward it to 33700), then delete it.
Before clicking a link received in a message, you can analyse it to spot the signs of a fake page.