How to Identify & Prevent Shipping Scams & Delivery Fraud
Right now, somewhere downstream of your checkout, a customer is waiting on a box. They know roughly when it should arrive. They do not know exactly.
That gap is the entire business model.
A text lands, saying the delivery needs an address confirmation. Your customer taps the link, types in a card number, and thanks you for the update. The fraud that follows shows up at your door instead of theirs.
In this post, we’ll look at how shipping scams work, how to tell a real carrier from a convincing imitation, what these schemes cost you once they land, and how to keep your business safe.
Recommended reading
- BIN Attack Fraud: How the Scam Works & How to Prevent It
- Credit Card Shimmers: Are You Prepared for “Skimming 2.0?”
- Address Fraud: How Scammers Use Your Customer’s Identity
- What are Reshipping Scams? Can Victims Actually Go to Jail?
- How Generative AI Could be Used to Weaponize Chargebacks
- How to Prevent Affiliate Fraud: Top Tips for 2026
What is a Shipping Scam?
- Shipping Scam
Shipping scams are fraud attacks that exploit the delivery process. This is often done by impersonating a courier like FedEx, UPS, or DHL, and sending messages to individuals awaiting shipments, with the goal of tricking victims into revealing personal information.
[noun]/shi • puhng • skam/
Americans spent about $1.234 trillion online in 2025, up 5.4% on the year before. For scammers, the proliferation of packages being shipped presents a golden opportunity.
Most shipping scams start when the fraudster contacts a potential victim via phone, email, or text message. The caller claims to be an agent of a delivery service like FedEx, UPS, or even the US Postal Service. They will attempt to convince the buyer that an order cannot be delivered without additional information.
For example, the fraudster may ask the victim to “verify” private information and credit card details. The request has nothing to do with the actual order, of course. The person on the other end of the conversation is a cybercriminal who wants personal information to commit identity theft or other financial fraud.
Email or text messages typically include a bogus tracking link that leads to what may appear to be the shipper’s official site. In reality, it’s a phishing website. One of the key elements in these scams is the ability of the fraudster to make their texts, emails, and landing pages look as legitimate as possible.
Why are Shipping Scams so Common?
Why do these bad actors focus in on shipping scams in particular, though? There are a few reasons:
Types of Shipping Scams
Shipping fraud can take on a lot of different forms. Some are more common than others, though. Here are a few of the ploys scammers commonly use:
Calling the Victim
The scammer phones potential victims with a fake shipping notification. The scammer then asks for personal information to “confirm” order information, like their address, credit card number, etc.
Calling the Fraudster
An “attempted delivery” message is left on the target’s door. The message includes a telephone number to call and arrange for delivery. Again, personal information is solicited by the scammer to complete this fake “delivery.”
Text or Email Phishing
The victim receives an SMS message, or an email requesting that they visit a specific URL to confirm an order. The page is built to capture whatever they enter, but it can carry a malware payload on top of that.
The "Door Hanger" Scam
Scammers hook professional-looking cards on the victim’s door. The card will often have the user’s name, address, and a fake tracking number, plus a phony URL or QR code. The site then infects the victim’s device with malware.
Customs, Duty & Tariff Demands
The message says a parcel is stuck in customs and won’t be released until a duty, tax, or tariff is paid, and it supplies a payment link. Scammers started doing this because most shoppers have no idea what they owe on an imported order after changes to de minimis rules in 2025.
Porch Theft
No impersonation, no phishing page… just someone taking the box off the step. Not only does the scammer get whatever merchandise was left, they may also get sensitive information tied to the goods stolen, or printed on the invoice/packing slip.
Per-Minute Call Scams
The target comes home and sees a door tag, instructing the reader to call an 809 area code number to get information about a shipment. The caller has no idea they’re going to be billed at premium per-minute rates for as long as they stay on the line.Delivery scams are a year-round problem, but they’re particularly prevalent during the holidays. More shopping is done, and more packages are shipped. Fraudsters count on busy consumers being too distracted to notice the fraud until it’s too late.
How to Check Whether a Shipping Company Is Legitimate
Say a logistics partner approached you or a customer forwarded a tracking link and asked whether it’s real. Here are five quick checks you can perform, in the order that saves the most time:
“Is this company real?” and “Is this company any good?” are very different questions, but they have very similar-looking search results. The checks above answer the first one; they don’t answer the second question, though.
Warning Signs of Shipping Fraud
Online shopping devotees may end up with several package deliveries every week. On the other end of the spectrum, some consumers may only make the occasional online purchase. Either way, it can sometimes be difficult to keep track of expected deliveries. This makes it easier to fall for a phony delivery notice.
It’s important to know and understand some of the main “red flags” of potential shipping scams. These include:
- The sender can’t be confirmed: If the domain name of the email address doesn’t match the company URL, it’s likely a scam.
- The link doesn’t match: Fraudsters often use links with misspelled or slightly altered website addresses, such as “fedx.com” or “fed-ex.com.”
- Everything links to the same URL: Check every link in the email – including the “unsubscribe” button. If they all go to the same page, that page is a trap.
- Non-matching phone number: If you’re asked to call a phone number that isn’t on the company’s website, you should call the listed number included on the website, instead.
- Spelling and grammatical errors: Even professionals can miss the occasional typo. That said, multiple mistakes or stilted language point to a scam.
- Urgency: Fraudsters often use minor threats (such as non-delivery) to create a sense of urgency, hoping the victim will act without thinking.
- Requests for personal info: No delivery service needs any personal information from someone to whom they are delivering a package. If they ask, don’t engage.
Ask where the charge lives, not whether it exists
Merchants and shoppers are taught that a real carrier never asks for money. Run that rule long enough and it costs you a parcel. Three cases are genuinely payable.
-
Collect on delivery
Agreed with the seller in advance.
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Duties
Set by customs, collected on release.
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Taxes
Import tax billed at the border.
Everything else
The list above is closed. Nothing has been added to it, and nothing will be. A fee outside those three is a scam, however plausible the tracking number looks.
The test
Find the charge on the carrier’s own website.
- Listed there too. Pay it.
- Only in the message. Delete it.
These aren’t all the threat vectors, of course. A message you receive may show none of the “tell-tale” signs of a shipping scam, but can still be fraudulent nonetheless. Here’s a good rule of thumb: if anything seems even the slightest bit suspicious, trust your instincts.
Delivery scams are a year-round problem, but they’re particularly prevalent during the holidays. More shopping is done, and more packages are shipped. Fraudsters count on busy consumers being too distracted to notice the fraud until it’s too late.
The best defense against scammers is common sense. Adopting these simple rules can help safeguard you from shipping scams and other types of online fraud:
- Never provide personal information to unsolicited messages or calls.
- Always get tracking numbers and follow the progress of your order.
- Never click on suspicious email links or attachments.
- Confirm the authenticity of any delivery messages with the actual carrier
- Prevent porch theft by not having packages sitting on the doorstep.
Shipping Scams Can Target Merchants, too
Up to now, we have largely been talking about shipping fraud as it happens to consumers. Every technique above works just as well pointed at a business, though.
Picture an employee arriving Monday morning to find a failed delivery notice stuck to the front door. Calling the number on it is not a lapse in judgment. It is the most natural thing in the world. And if the person who answers walks away with your corporate card details, the damage is not measured in one parcel.
To that end, there are two key practices I’d recommend. These should only take an afternoon, but neither of which most merchants have done:
Shut the Door on Third-Party Charges
Treat Reference Numbers as Credentials
Alongside the specific practices above, here are a few more general things worth building specifically on your side of the counter:
- Provide Ongoing Training: Train employees to spot the common warning signs of a potential fraud attack.
- Have a Clear Action Plan: Set up clear protocols to follow if an employee does get caught by a scam, and make sure everyone understands their responsibility.
- Have a Point Person: Part of an action plan should be to designate a “go-to” person, to whom employees report cases of fraud or suspected fraud.
- Keep Up-to-Date:
To be clear, none of this makes you immune. Someone determined to impersonate FedEx at your loading dock will eventually catch you on a busy day. But, these controls shrink the number of days that works.
And remember: shipping scams are one thread in a much larger fraud problem, and the chargebacks they produce look identical to the ones arriving from every other direction. Chargebacks911® can help you tell them apart and fight the ones worth fighting. Contact us today for a no-obligation analysis of what those disputes are costing you
FAQs
How do shipping scams happen?
Many start with a text, voice message, or email about a non-delivered package or missed delivery. These messages typically include either a number to call or a “tracking link” to click in order to provide delivery information. If the victim responds, the scammer will attempt to obtain personal information to be used for fraud.
Is there a scam shipping to the wrong address?
Yes. For example, in a change-of-address scam, the fraudsters trick the postal service into diverting your mail to a new address. There are also tracking scams that run the other way, where a package is shipped to a different address inside the buyer’s ZIP code so that tracking shows a valid delivery for that ZIP, which we cover in detail under package redirection scams. While technically a type of shipping scam, these ploys are often more complex than other types of delivery fraud.
How do I know if a shipping notification is real?
The biggest clue is the information they request. No carrier asks for personal or payment details in a message you were not expecting, although a small number of packages do legitimately require a collect-on-delivery, duty, or tax payment before release. In addition, carefully check any notices, emails, or text messages you receive against the real carrier’s website or customer service line.
Is shipping protection a scam?
No, though it is worth reading the terms. Shipping protection is an optional checkout fee, charged by the merchant or a third-party provider, covering loss, theft, or damage in transit. What draws complaints is opt-out defaults and narrow claim windows. If you offer it, make the toggle obvious and the terms plain.
