In short
Most common fake: Customs duty or tax payment link for a held shipment.
Safest check: Enter your tracking number yourself on the official DHL tracking page at dhl.com.
Where to report it: Forward scam emails as attachments, or send screenshots of scam texts and social media accounts, to phishing@dhl.com.
What DHL says
DHL says the only payments it requests by email or SMS are customs duties and taxes, and a one-time passcode is sent to the recipient's registered contact before payment. Official DHL emails come from dhl.com and related DHL domains, never from free services like Gmail or Yahoo. Source: DHL
Common fake DHL messages
These are the 5 shapes a fake DHL message usually takes. They are listed in the order we see them most often, and none of them is something DHL itself does.
- Customs duty or tax payment link for a held shipment
- Text with a shortened link (such as bit.ly) from a generic sender name like Delivery
- Text from a phone number with an unexpected foreign country code
- Phishing email with an urgent tone or a fake shipping attachment
- Fake DHL social media accounts or job offers
DHL's real web addresses
Genuine DHL links and emails use these domains. Look at the part just before the first single slash: dhl.com is real, but dhl-support-center.com or dhl.com.account-check.top are not.
- dhl.com
- dpdhl.com
- dhl-news.com
- dhl.de
Scammers can also hide a fake link behind real-looking text. Learn how to read a web address.
How to check a DHL message safely
- Enter your tracking number yourself on the official DHL tracking page at dhl.com
- Check that any email comes from dhl.com or another official DHL domain, not a free email service
- Legitimate customs payment requests include a one-time passcode sent to your registered contact
- Send shipment or invoice questions to DHL customer support via dhl.com
How to report a fake DHL message
- Forward scam emails as attachments, or send screenshots of scam texts and social media accounts, to phishing@dhl.com. Official details on dhl.com
Also report it to the official fraud service in your country. See the worldwide list.
If you clicked, paid or shared details
Act quickly. It makes a difference.
- If you entered card or bank details, call your bank now using the number on your card, and ask them to block the card.
- If you entered a password, change it at dhl.com, typed into your browser yourself, and turn on two-step verification. Do not use any link from the message.
- Expect follow-up calls or messages pretending to help, sometimes claiming to be from DHL security. Never share one-time codes and never move money to a "safe account".
- Forward scam emails as attachments, or send screenshots of scam texts and social media accounts, to phishing@dhl.com, then delete the message.
More help: Fake delivery texts and customs-fee scams and what to do after a scam.
How to protect yourself next time
Take your details off data broker sites
Scammers buy phone numbers, home addresses and family details from people-search and data broker sites. The less of that is public, the fewer and less convincing the scam messages you get.
Free: You can ask each site to delete your details yourself. In the EU and the UK, data protection law gives you that right.
- Incogni Partner link Sends removal requests to data brokers for you, and keeps sending them.
Watch for anyone using your identity
If you shared ID documents, card details or a Social Security number, monitoring can alert you when someone opens credit or accounts in your name.
Free: In the US, a credit freeze at Equifax, Experian and TransUnion is free and blocks most new-credit fraud. Elsewhere, ask your bank and your credit reference agency about fraud alerts.
- Aura Partner link US identity theft protection with credit monitoring and fraud insurance.
Compare the tools that help, and what each costs
Links marked Partner link may earn us a commission, at no cost to you. It never changes our advice, and the free option always comes first. Affiliate disclosure.
Questions people ask
Does DHL send messages asking for payment or personal details?
DHL says the only payments it requests by email or SMS are customs duties and taxes, and a one-time passcode is sent to the recipient's registered contact before payment. Official DHL emails come from dhl.com and related DHL domains, never from free services like Gmail or Yahoo.
How can I check if a DHL message is real?
Enter your tracking number yourself on the official DHL tracking page at dhl.com. Check that any email comes from dhl.com or another official DHL domain, not a free email service. Legitimate customs payment requests include a one-time passcode sent to your registered contact. Send shipment or invoice questions to DHL customer support via dhl.com.
How do I report a fake DHL message?
Forward scam emails as attachments, or send screenshots of scam texts and social media accounts, to phishing@dhl.com.
I clicked a link in a fake DHL message but did not enter anything. Am I at risk?
Opening a link is far less serious than filling one in. Close it, and if you need your account, reach it by typing dhl.com yourself. Clicking does tell the sender your number is live, so expect more messages for a while: forward scam emails as attachments, or send screenshots of scam texts and social media accounts, to phishing@dhl.com.
Have you had this one?
Tell other people what the message said and how it reached you. It helps someone recognise it before they tap.
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Official sources and further reading
We check our pages against official advice from the organisations themselves and from government agencies.
- Fraud Awareness (DHL)
- DHL Tracking (DHL)