Direct answer: Treat every unexpected tracking notice as suspect until it survives three checks: the message came through a channel the carrier actually uses, the tracking number resolves on the carrier's own site (typed in by you, not via the message link), and the details match an order you really placed. Scam notices fail at least one of these every time.
Fake delivery texts and emails arrive looking like carrier notices: a package could not be delivered, a small redelivery fee is due, a customs charge needs paying. The link leads to a convincing copy of a carrier or retailer page that harvests card details, credentials, or both. The tracking number in the message is either invented, copied from a real shipment that is not yours, or formatted to look right without existing in any carrier system. Volume is the business model: delivery anxiety makes people click before they think.
Never follow the link in the notice. Open the carrier's official site or app yourself and enter the tracking number there. A real number resolves with a plausible journey: acceptance scan, transit points, dates in order. A fake number returns no record, or occasionally a record for a completely different package and destination. Also compare formats: each carrier's numbers follow known patterns of length and characters, and scam numbers often break them in small ways most people never notice.
Ask the simplest question: am I expecting anything? Check your retailer order pages directly, again without using links from the suspicious message. Real shipments appear there with the same tracking number. Scam notices rely on the odds that you have something in transit, which during busy seasons is often true, but the number will not match any order in your account. A notice about a package you cannot tie to a real order is a notice to delete.
Carriers do not collect small redelivery or customs fees through text message links. Legitimate delivery problems are handled through the carrier's site, a notice left at your door, or the retailer you bought from. Any message demanding a small card payment to release a package is the scam, full stop. Report the message as junk, delete it, and if you did enter card details anywhere, contact your bank immediately and watch the account; the first charges are often small test amounts.
Fake tracking notices are a top counterfeit and phishing channel. The checks that separate a real carrier update from a scam in under a minute. Start with the checks and habits in this guide, give any change a few weeks to show results, and adjust based on what you actually observe rather than chasing every new claim. Small, consistent steps compound. The basics done well beat complicated routines done briefly, and a routine you can keep is worth more than a perfect one you abandon.
Enter it on the carrier's official site or app, reached by typing the address yourself. Fake numbers return no record or a record that does not match your orders. Also compare the number against the tracking listed in your retailer account.
No. Carriers do not collect small fees through text message links. A demand for a card payment to release or redeliver a package is a hallmark of the scam.
Scammers sometimes reuse real numbers. If the shipment details, destination city, or dates do not match an order you placed, it is not your package and the message is still a scam. Rely on your retailer account as the source of truth.
Contact your bank immediately, report the card compromised, and monitor for small test charges. Then change passwords for any account where you reused credentials entered on the fake page.