The UK's most-reported SMS scam — spot fake delivery-fee demands, parcel-redelivery texts, customs-charge messages, and the official Royal Mail communication channels.
Last reviewed: 21 May 2026 · ScamSupport research
A fake “Royal Mail” text asking for a small delivery or customs fee is the most-reported scam text in the UK. The message reads as routine, the fee is tiny, and the link opens a convincing copy of the Royal Mail website that captures your card number and personal details. UK Finance reported that criminals stole £629 million through fraud in the first half of 2025 — and a large share of it begins with a single text message. This guide sets out the exact patterns in circulation in 2026, how genuine Royal Mail fees actually work, and what to do if you have already tapped the link.
The scam runs in three stages, and the text message is only the first of them.
Most warnings about this scam stop at stage one. Treating the small fee as the whole danger is the mistake the scam relies on: the £2.99 is a doorway, and what walks through it is card fraud and authorised-push-payment fraud worth far more.
The wording is varied deliberately so the messages do not all look identical, but every version asks you to follow a link and pay or “confirm” something. These are the patterns currently most common.
1. The redelivery fee
“Royal Mail: your parcel is waiting for delivery. A £2.99 redelivery fee is required. Reschedule here: [link]”
The most common version. It plays on the fact that most people are expecting something, so a vague “your parcel” feels plausible.
2. The customs or import charge
“Your package has an unpaid customs fee of £1.99. Pay now to release your item or it will be returned: [link]”
Targets anyone who has ordered from overseas. Genuine customs charges do exist — but Royal Mail never collects them by text (see below).
3. The incomplete-address message
“Royal Mail: we could not deliver your parcel because the address is incomplete. Confirm your details here: [link]”
This version may not even ask for a fee — it asks you to “confirm” your address and personal details, which is enough on its own.
4. The dispatch or shipping fee
“Your item is ready to dispatch. A small shipping fee of £2.99 is outstanding: [link]”
A slight rewording of the redelivery version, used to slip past spam filters that have learned the older phrasing.
The same template is used to impersonate Evri, DPD, Parcelforce, FedEx, UPS and Yodel. Recognise the shape of one and you can recognise all of them.
This is the single rule that defeats the entire scam: Royal Mail does not ask for a fee through a link in a text message.
When a genuine customs duty or handling charge is owed on a parcel from abroad, Royal Mail leaves a grey “Fee to Pay” card physically through your letterbox. The card carries a reference number, and you settle it through the official Royal Mail website or the other methods printed on the card — never a link sent to your phone.
Royal Mail does send genuine delivery notifications by text and email — tracking updates, estimated delivery windows, “your item is on its way”. The difference is simple: a genuine notification never contains a link to pay a fee or confirm personal details for a parcel you did not knowingly arrange. If money or data is being requested through a link, it is not Royal Mail.
To check on a real parcel, do not use any link you were sent. Track it directly at royalmail.com using the tracking number from the retailer you actually ordered from, or in that retailer’s own app.
Act quickly — most card fraud is recoverable if you reach your bank early.
No. Royal Mail does not send texts with a link to pay a delivery or customs fee. A genuine customs or handling charge is notified on a grey 'Fee to Pay' card left physically through your letterbox, which you settle through the official Royal Mail website or the methods printed on the card.
Often not. The fee is a cover story; the real prize is the card and personal details you entered alongside it. Treat it as a card-fraud incident: call your bank's fraud line straight away, and be ready to refuse the follow-up 'bank fraud team' call that frequently comes next.
No. Scammers send these messages from ordinary SIMs, from spoofed sender IDs that display 'Royal Mail', and increasingly from iMessage or RCS, which lets them show any name. The sender is not evidence either way — the request to pay through a link is.
Ignore any link you were sent. Go to royalmail.com directly, or to the app of the retailer you ordered from, and track the parcel using the tracking number that retailer gave you. If there is a genuine fee, it will be on a physical card, not a text.
7726 is a free national shortcode (the digits spell 'SPAM'). Forwarding the message reports it to your mobile network and to Ofcom, which use it to block numbers and disrupt the senders. You may receive an automated reply asking for the scammer's number — forward that as well.
Opening the page alone is low-risk on an up-to-date phone, but do not enter anything and close it. As a precaution, do not return to the page and keep an eye on your accounts. The danger is the data you submit, not the visit itself.
Reviewed by ScamSupport research, 21 May 2026. Sources: Royal Mail scam guidance (royalmail.com/help/scam-protection); Ofcom guidance on reporting scam texts to 7726; UK Finance fraud statistics, first half of 2025; Report Fraud; National Cyber Security Centre (ncsc.gov.uk).
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