If you have a phone, you've gotten one: a text from 'USPS' about a held package, a wrong address, or an unpaid delivery fee, with a link to fix it. It's the most-reported scam text in the country, and the same template powers fake FedEx, UPS, E-ZPass, and toll-road messages.
The genius of the scam is the tiny fee. Nobody agonizes over $1.99. But the payment form doesn't want your two dollars — it wants your full card number, expiration, CVC, and billing address.
How to spot it instantly
USPS doesn't text you links out of the blue. You only get USPS texts if you signed up for tracking on a specific package — and even then, they don't ask for payment through a texted link.
Check the domain. The real site is usps.com. Scam links look like usps-redelivery.com, usps.package-fix.net, or a random string of characters. Same for toll roads: E-ZPass agencies bill through their own apps and by mail.
The tracking number is fake. Type it into the real usps.com yourself — it won't exist.
Wrong sender. These texts come from random mobile numbers, foreign country codes, or email addresses — not from USPS short codes.
If you already paid the 'fee'
Treat your card as stolen, because it effectively is. Call your bank, kill the card, and watch for small test charges followed by larger ones. The scammers often also enroll harvested cards in recurring fake subscriptions.
Forward the scam text to 7726 (SPAM) and to spam@uspis.gov, then delete it. And if you want to check the next suspicious text in seconds, paste it into Scambook — delivery scam templates light up our database instantly.
