As we hurtle towards the festive season, Evri is asking consumers to beware of these… They showed the shocking new trend in parcel delivery fraud known as “spray and pay.” This new approach, which allows for the daily distribution of thousands of shady texts or calls, is a tremendous danger to unwarned consumers. The scheme coordinated multiple actors to profit from the personal information of victims. These people are usually duped into sending lawyers fees for parcels that don’t even exist.
These perpetrators lure victims with messages that almost never include their name. Rather, these messages use fear to manufacture a sense of urgency that compels them to act immediately. These misleading messages then falsely notify that a package can’t be delivered. To claim it, you need to pay a redelivery fine charge, oftentimes as little as £1 or £2. When recipients click the links in these communications, they find themselves on sites that closely mirror websites from actual courier companies. These misleading sites are intentionally built to confuse consumers. The Home Appreciating Neighborhood Invest in package described in these communications is a myth.
The Scale of the Problem
Evri, for example, reported a staggering 10,000 incidents of such delivery fraud between just November 2024 and January 2025. Fraud cases have inundated retailers during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year. This dramatic increase is worrying for the average consumer, as well as for last mile delivery providers.
Murray Mackenzie, director of fraud prevention at Virgin Media O2, even warned of the ‘biggest threat ever’. He cautions that “spray and pay” approaches are a significant danger in today’s environment. He warned people to stay alert whenever they get messages saying their package has been delivered.
“If you’re expecting five parcels and you get 27 text messages, then 22 of them are not going to be legitimate.” – Murray Mackenzie
The sheer volume of these types of messages sent in this manner complicates matters greatly. This makes it extremely difficult for people to know which alerts are real. Mackenzie’s message to consumers is to become more aware of who’s bringing your packages. She cautions them to look out for only recognizable courier services reaching out.
“Be aware of who’s delivering your parcels. If a delivery is going to be sent by DPD, Evri, or Royal Mail, expect contact from them and no one else.” – Murray Mackenzie
Recognizing the Scams
The “spray and pray” approach blasts out messages full of trendy buzzwords. Unlike other email touches intended to engage the recipient over time, these urgent phrases serve to elicit an immediate response. Some examples include:
“Sorry! for the inconvenience but there seems to be a problem with your parcel. Please visit: (the name of the scam site) to resolve this. Thanks!”
“When our driver attempted to deliver today, nobody was present. Visit (the name of the scam site) to track and reschedule delivery.”
“Your package is waiting at your local depot. To arrange a delivery date, go to (the name of the scam site).”
These terms lend a sense of mystery and immediate harm. These entreaties instill in users the urgency to place an order right now or risk losing their food deliveries.
Lee Howard of Evri confirmed that good delivery companies such as Evri would never agree to charge customers a redelivery fee. As for returning an item, he said they will try delivery three times first.
“Lots of these try to charge a ‘redelivery fee’ which is nonsense – we will attempt delivery three times before an item is returned. We will never charge a re-delivery fee.” – Lee Howard
Protecting Personal Information
The worst part of the “spray and pay” approach is the identity theft it opens up. By clicking on links in these fraudulent SMS messages, victims can unknowingly provide personal or financial information directly to criminals.
Mackenzie laid out the worst-case scenario for his group’s members, which is for fraudsters to get payment information in hand. They can harvest your email addresses and password. This creates an opportunity for further scams and can reroute deliveries intended for true neighbors.
“However, you might provide an email address and a password for a login to a delivery site and that allows them to redirect future parcels. It may be that they just obtain your email address and phone number through a contact form and then that makes you susceptible to future scams.” – Murray Mackenzie
With consumers getting ready for holiday shopping, being alert to these types of scams is more important than ever. Understanding the warning signs of fraud will allow people to take steps to avoid becoming a victim of these scams.