Fake parcel fee texts: protect your card and accounts
A text saying a parcel needs a £1.49 or £2.99 “redelivery fee” is dangerous because the small amount makes people lower their guard. The criminal may care less about the fee than about collecting your card details, address, password or one-time authentication code.
Do not pay through the message link. Check the parcel through the retailer or courier app/site you already use. If you entered card or banking details, contact your bank promptly; if you reused a password, change it on the other accounts that use it.
The tiny fee is designed to make the request feel harmless
A £1.79 redelivery charge does not look like the sort of amount a criminal would target. That is precisely why it works as bait. A fake page can collect the long card number, expiry date, security code, name and address in one interaction.
Afterwards the criminals may attempt larger card transactions or use the information in a second call pretending to be your bank. Judge the request by how you reached the payment page, not by how small the fee appears.
Start with a real-world test rather than the label on the screen. Picture a text demanding a £1.49 redelivery fee for an expected parcel. For 'The tiny fee is designed to make the request feel harmless', write down the sender number, copied link, courier tracking page, card alerts and any password entered on the fake site before changing anything. Parcel-fee phishing often leads to a second-stage call or message, so preserve the original text and do not trust a follow-up caller who already knows details from the fake form. A £1.49 request can be bait: the financial risk is the exposed card number, security code and later impersonation attempt, not the small fee itself
Check the delivery without touching the link
If you are genuinely expecting a parcel, open the retailer’s order page or the courier’s official app and enter the tracking number there. Do not use the website reached from the text as evidence that the text is genuine.
The NCSC notes that modern phishing can look polished and may use urgency, authority and emotion rather than obvious spelling mistakes. “Pay within 12 hours or the parcel will be returned” is a pressure device, not proof.
Treat 'Check the delivery without touching the link' as a sequence of checks. Using a text demanding a £1.49 redelivery fee for an expected parcel, separate what is confirmed from what is only assumed, then compare the expected result with the actual result. Keep the sender number, copied link, courier tracking page, card alerts and any password entered on the fake site. A £1.49 request can be bait: the financial risk is the exposed card number, security code and later impersonation attempt, not the small fee itself If the evidence does not line up, pause before you create another payment, application or instruction because a second action can make the original problem harder to trace.
If you entered card details, treat them as exposed
Contact the card issuer through the banking app, the number on the card or another trusted route. Explain that the card details were entered into a suspected phishing site. The bank can tell you whether the card should be frozen, cancelled or replaced.
Do not wait for a fraudulent transaction to appear before reporting the exposure. If an unauthorised payment does appear, the FCA says to notify the provider as soon as you notice it.
A useful decision rule for 'If you entered card details, treat them as exposed' is to take one controlled action at a time. If card details were entered, stop using those credentials even if no fraudulent payment is visible yet. In the example of a text demanding a £1.49 redelivery fee for an expected parcel, the next step should preserve the sender number, copied link, courier tracking page, card alerts and any password entered on the fake site and leave you able to reverse course if new information appears. Contact the card issuer from its official app or number and change any reused password.
If you entered a password, fix the wider account risk
People often reuse passwords across delivery, email and shopping accounts. The NCSC advises changing the password on every account where the same password was used. Protecting your email is especially important because email can be used to reset other services.
If available, add two-step verification after changing the password. Then review recent login or security notifications for anything you do not recognise.
Build the fallback before the deadline becomes urgent. For 'If you entered a password, fix the wider account risk', decide what you will do if the normal route fails: which official channel you will contact, which reference you will quote and what money or account access must remain available. A £1.49 request can be bait: the financial risk is the exposed card number, security code and later impersonation attempt, not the small fee itself Keep the sender number, copied link, courier tracking page, card alerts and any password entered on the fake site together in one dated note so support can see the sequence without asking you to reconstruct it from memory.
Watch for the second-stage scam
Once a criminal has your details, a later caller can sound remarkably convincing: “We are the bank fraud team and we can see you entered your card on a parcel site.” That may simply be the same fraud operation using the information it stole.
Do not approve a payment or transfer money because the caller appears to know what happened. End the call and contact the bank independently.
Do not treat documentation as paperwork that comes after the problem. Under 'Watch for the second-stage scam', the sender number, copied link, courier tracking page, card alerts and any password entered on the fake site are part of the solution because they show the bank what happened and when. If card details were entered, stop using those credentials even if no fraudulent payment is visible yet. Contact the card issuer from its official app or number and change any reused password rather than improvising with an unverified workaround.
The small parcel fee is often only the entry point
Parcel scams work because a £1 or £2 redelivery fee feels too small to question. The fraudulent page can capture the card number, security code, address and phone number, then use those details for larger purchases or to make a later impersonation call more convincing. Do not judge risk by the amount shown on the first screen.
If you entered card details on a parcel link, contact the card issuer and explain that the details were entered on a suspected phishing site even if no transaction has appeared yet. Save the message and web address, then report the phishing attempt. NCSC guidance recommends going directly to the delivery company's real website rather than using contact details in an unexpected message.
Be especially suspicious of a follow-up caller who already knows the parcel amount or the last four digits of the card and claims to be the bank. Those facts may have come from the phishing page. Never move money to a safe account or read out a one-time code to reverse the supposed parcel payment.
Finish 'The small parcel fee is often only the entry point' with a stop condition. Decide in advance what fact would make you wait, what fact would make you contact the bank and what fact would make you abandon the transaction or application entirely. In a text demanding a £1.49 redelivery fee for an expected parcel, the safest next step is the one that keeps essential money and evidence recoverable. Parcel-fee phishing often leads to a second-stage call or message, so preserve the original text and do not trust a follow-up caller who already knows details from the fake form. Contact the card issuer from its official app or number and change any reused password if the provider cannot explain the next step clearly.
Sources and verification
Victoria Hughes - Consumer Rights Specialist
The useful question is not whether a £2 delivery fee seems plausible; it is whether you independently reached the real courier. A small fake charge can be the front door to a much larger card or account takeover.
MyBankAnswers uses official provider and UK regulatory sources wherever practical. Information is general and does not constitute financial advice.