Quick answer: this is a scam
If you received a text message saying a delivery was missed and asking you to click a link to reschedule or pay a fee, do not click it. This is one of the most common scams in circulation right now. Real delivery companies do not ask for payment or personal details through unsolicited text messages.
Why this scam is everywhere right now
Most of us are expecting a package at any given moment. We order things online constantly and we have become used to receiving delivery updates by text. Scammers know this. They send millions of these fake messages hoping that enough recipients will think the text relates to something they are actually waiting for.
You do not need to have ordered anything recently for this to feel convincing. The message arrives, it mentions a missed delivery, it gives you a tight deadline, and your brain fills in the rest. Maybe it is that thing you ordered last week. Maybe someone sent you a gift. You click before you have had a chance to think about it properly.
While the example below shows a message impersonating Purolator, this exact scam runs using every major courier in every country. In Canada you will see it using Canada Post, FedEx, and UPS. In the UK it appears as Royal Mail, DPD, and Evri. In the United States USPS and FedEx are common targets. The courier name changes depending on where you are. The rest of the message stays almost identical.
What gives this one away
This particular message is a good example of how polished these scams have become. The language sounds plausible, the scenario is realistic, and the deadline creates just enough pressure to make you want to act immediately. But several things betray it.
The link is the biggest giveaway. Look at the URL in this message. It reads purolator.5937330.cc followed by en.services.shipping.canada. Purolator's real website is purolator.com. That is it. Any link that uses the brand name as a subdomain or prefix in front of a different domain, like purolator followed by a string of numbers and a .cc extension, is not from Purolator. Real delivery companies send you to their own domain, not to random addresses that happen to include their name somewhere in them.
Your phone already knew something was wrong. Look at the bottom of the screenshot. Apple's messaging app is displaying the warning "The sender and other recipients are not in your contact list." That appears on messages from unknown numbers. If Purolator had genuinely delivered to your address before they would have a relationship with you and that warning would not typically appear in the same way.
The deadline is artificial. The message claims the package was missed on December 3rd and that you must act by December 4th or it will be returned. That is a one day window designed to stop you from pausing to think. Real courier missed delivery notifications give you several days to a week to arrange redelivery. They do not threaten to return your package within twenty four hours.
There is no tracking number. A genuine missed delivery notification from any courier will include a tracking number so you can verify the delivery exists. This message references no tracking information whatsoever because there is no real delivery.
The link goes nowhere legitimate. Phltr checked this URL and it was flagged immediately by security databases. The domain purolator.5937330.cc has nothing to do with Purolator and exists solely to deceive.
What Phltr found
We uploaded this screenshot to Phltr using the Screenshot tab on phltr.net. Phltr read the visible text and the URL from the image and returned a risk score of 89 out of 100.
If you receive a suspicious delivery text you can take a screenshot and upload it directly to phltr.net without clicking any links in the message. Phltr will read the text and check any visible URLs and tell you what it found.
What real delivery companies actually do
Knowing how genuine delivery notifications work makes these scams much easier to identify.
What the real thing looks like
Real delivery companies send tracking updates that include your actual tracking number so you can independently verify the delivery exists. They link only to their own official domain, purolator.com, canadapost.ca, royalmail.com, fedex.com and so on, never to third party addresses or domains that happen to include their name. They do not ask for payment through a text message link. If a customs or handling fee genuinely applies it is handled through official channels and you would typically know about it before the delivery attempt. Real missed delivery notices also give you reasonable time to respond, usually several days, and they provide a phone number or official website where you can independently verify the information.
Check a suspicious delivery text right now
If something arrived in your messages and you are not sure whether it is genuine, paste the text or screenshot it and check it below. Phltr will tell you instantly.
What to do if you already clicked
If you clicked the link but did not enter any information on the page that opened, you are most likely fine. Close the page immediately if it is still open, do not enter anything, and consider running a security scan on your device as a precaution.
If you clicked and entered personal information such as your name, address, phone number, or email address, be aware that this information may now be in the hands of scammers and could be used in future targeted scam attempts. Be extra cautious about messages you receive in the coming weeks.
If you clicked and entered payment details such as a card number, expiry date, or security code, contact your bank immediately and ask them to cancel your card and issue a replacement. Check your recent transactions for anything you do not recognise and report it to your bank straight away.
If you are unsure what the page asked for or what you entered, contact your bank anyway and explain what happened. It is always better to call and find out everything is fine than to stay silent and discover later that something went wrong.
How to verify a delivery notification yourself
If you are ever unsure whether a delivery notification is genuine the safest thing to do is bypass the message entirely. Open your browser and type the courier's official website address yourself. Look up your order confirmation email from the retailer you bought from, find the tracking number there, and enter it directly on the courier's real website. This way you never have to trust a link someone sent you.
Where to report it
- Canada
- Report to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at reportascam.ca or by calling 1-888-495-8501. You can also forward the suspicious text to 7726 which reports it directly to your mobile carrier.
- United Kingdom
- Forward the text to 7726 which reports it to your mobile carrier. You can also report it to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040.
- United States
- Forward the text to 7726 to report it to your carrier. You can also report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- Barbados
- Report to the Royal Barbados Police Force at your local station or contact the Cybercrime Unit. You can also notify your mobile carrier directly.
- Anywhere else
- In most countries you can forward suspicious texts to 7726 which is the standard number for reporting spam texts to mobile carriers. It works on most networks across Canada, the UK, and the United States.
Questions people ask about delivery scams
I am actually expecting a package. How do I know if this is real?
Do not use the link in the message to find out. Instead find your order confirmation email from the retailer, get the tracking number from there, and go directly to the courier's official website to check the status. If there genuinely was a missed delivery it will show up there. If it does not you will know the text was fake.
The text knew my name. Does that mean it is real?
Not necessarily. Scammers sometimes obtain partial personal information from data breaches or other sources and include it in messages to make them feel more targeted and legitimate. A name alone is not enough to confirm a message is genuine.
What if I actually missed a delivery recently?
Still do not click the link. Go directly to the courier's website or app, enter your tracking number, and check the status there. If a genuine delivery was missed it will be visible through the official channels without you needing to click anything a stranger sent you.
The message came from a local number. Is that suspicious?
Yes, actually. Scammers use tools that generate local-looking numbers or even spoof numbers from legitimate businesses. A local number does not make a message more trustworthy. What matters is the content of the message and where its links actually go.
Could this have been sent to me because I ordered something recently?
These messages are sent to millions of people at random. The timing feeling relevant to something you ordered is almost always a coincidence. Scammers do not know what you have ordered or whether you are expecting anything. They are betting on the fact that at any given moment a large proportion of people are waiting for something.