📦Package Scams Switch Carriers

The "your package could not be delivered" text was the defining scam of spring 2026, and it almost always wore a USPS uniform: a redelivery fee, a link, a lookalike postal site built to collect card details. That version has faded steadily through the summer — USPS dropped off our Brand Imposter Leaderboard this month after sitting in the top five since the list began.

The package lure didn't go away. It changed carriers. FedEx entered the top 10 in its place, and the costume changed with it. Instead of a cheap text about a redelivery fee, the current wave looks more like real logistics: polished "Delivery Status Notification" emails saying a driver attempted delivery but couldn't finish without a signature; texts about an inbound shipment held pending a small customs-clearance payment; and automated voicemails saying FedEx was "unable to make a delivery" and asking you to call back.

The customs angle is the clever part. International orders really do incur duties, and FedEx really does collect them — so a clearance-fee message doesn't trip the "this never happens" alarm the way a postal redelivery fee eventually did. Scammers have also learned that an email with a signature-confirmation button reads as more official than a text with a link.

The important trend here is seasonal timing. Delivery scams track shipping volume, and the carrier switch landed exactly as holiday shipping begins. Expect the same lures to rotate through UPS, DHL and Amazon branding as volume peaks through November and December, with "your gift couldn't be delivered" the obvious next script.

As we watch this trend, we're keeping an eye on the voicemail variant. Delivery scams have been a text-and-email problem until now; a recorded call asking you to phone a number back borrows the playbook from the fraud-alert robocalls that are reshaping the rest of the leaderboard.