A fake pay-the-delivery-fee courier email, taken apart line by line.
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A fake courier 'your parcel is ready, pay the delivery fee' email landed in the Verifyd inbox. We take the real scam apart, tell by tell, so you can spot the next one before you click or pay.
Published 27 June 2026 · Last reviewed 27 June 2026
The bait A fake 'your parcel is ready, pay a small delivery fee' email
Typical ask A small amount, around R32, to lower your guard
The real target Your card number, expiry and CVV on the fake payment page
The giveaway The 'Pay Now' link goes to a site that isn't the courier's real domain
A scam landed in the Verifyd support inbox. Someone pretending to be a well-known courier company sent us a fake “your parcel is ready, pay the delivery fee” email, hoping we would click a link and hand over our card details. It is the same scam thousands of South Africans are receiving right now.
There is a certain irony in trying to scam a company that builds scam detection. But we are not writing this to gloat. We are writing it because this is a real example of a scam doing the rounds across South Africa, and it is a perfect teaching case. If you learn to read one scam like this, you can spot most of them.
So let’s take it apart.
The email claimed to be from a courier company. It had a tracking number, a delivery date, a parcel weight, and a small amount to pay: about R32. At the bottom was a single button that said “Pay Now.”
It looked ordinary. That is the point. Good scams do not look dramatic. They look like the boring admin you deal with every day, which is exactly why people click.
1. The link did not go where it claimed to.
This is the big one. The “Pay Now” button did not lead to the courier’s real website. It led to a completely unrelated website hosted in another country, dressed up with the courier’s name in the web address to look convincing.
Here is the trick scammers use, and how to beat it. In a web address, the part that matters is the real domain, the bit just before the first single slash. Scammers put the brand name earlier in the address as decoration, so a quick glance reads “courier” while the actual destination is something else entirely. Always look for the real domain, not the familiar word dropped in to reassure you.
2. The amount was suspiciously small.
About R32. This is deliberate. A small amount lowers your guard. You think “it’s only R32, easier to just pay it than sort it out.” But the goal is almost never the R32. The goal is the payment page, where you type in your card number, expiry and CVV. Once they have those, the small fee is the least of your problems.
3. It created a little bit of urgency.
“Ready for dispatch.” “Complete payment to proceed.” Scams push you to act before you think. Any message that rushes you toward a payment or a link deserves a pause, not a click.
4. It removed the ways you might check.
“This is an automated notification. Please do not reply.” Real companies usually want to hear from you. A message that closes the door on questions is steering you toward one action only: the button.
5. It was addressed to nobody.
“Dear Customer.” No name. Real delivery notifications usually know who you are. A generic greeting means it was blasted to thousands of addresses at once, ours included.
6. We were not expecting a parcel.
Simple, but people forget it under pressure. If a delivery, refund or payment arrives out of nowhere for something you did not order or expect, treat it as suspect until proven otherwise.
You do not need to memorise every trick. You need one habit: when a message asks you to click, pay or share details, stop and check it before you act.
If you are unsure about a courier message, do not use the link in the message. Go to the courier’s real website yourself, or contact them directly, and check your tracking number there. Never let the message itself be the thing that “proves” it is real.
We ran the email through Verifyd. It flagged it as a likely scam with high confidence, and explained why: the mismatched link, the impersonated brand, the payment request, and the pressure to act. That is the whole idea. You paste in a suspicious message, and instead of guessing, you get a clear answer and the reasons behind it, in seconds.
Being targeted ourselves was a useful reminder of something we believe: scams are not a sign that you are careless. They are engineered to catch careful people on a busy day. The answer is not to feel foolish. It is to build a simple habit of checking.
If a message ever makes you unsure, check it first.
01 How can I tell where a link really goes before I click it? Look for the real domain, which is the part just before the first single slash in the web address. Scammers drop the courier's name earlier in the address as decoration, so a quick glance reads like the real brand while the true destination is somewhere else entirely. On a computer you can hover over a link to preview the address. On a phone you can press and hold the link to see where it leads. If the real domain isn't the courier's genuine website, don't click it.
02 Why do these scams ask for such a small amount? The small amount, often around R32, is deliberate. A tiny fee lowers your guard, because it feels easier to just pay than to sort it out. But the fee is almost never the goal. The goal is the payment page, where you type in your card number, expiry and CVV. Once the scammers have those, the small fee is the least of your problems.
03 The email said 'do not reply.' Isn't that normal for automated messages? Some genuine notifications are no-reply, so this on its own isn't proof of a scam. But combined with the other tells, it's a warning sign. Closing off questions steers you toward one action only: the button. When a message removes every way to check and pushes you toward a single click, treat that as a signal to slow down.
04 I wasn't expecting a parcel. Does that settle it? It's one of the strongest signals, though people forget it under pressure. If a delivery, refund or payment lands out of nowhere for something you didn't order or expect, treat it as suspect until proven otherwise. Scammers send these to thousands of addresses at once, betting that some recipients happen to be expecting a parcel. If you aren't, that's a strong reason to distrust it.
05 What's the one habit that beats these scams? Never let the message itself be the thing that proves it's real. When a message asks you to click, pay or share details, stop and check it through a channel you find yourself. Go to the courier's real website directly, or contact them, and check your tracking number there. You can also paste the suspicious message into Verifyd for a verdict before you act.
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