What is ‘smishing’? Evri issues warning over sudden rise in brutal scam

Customers have been warned of a 174% rise in reported scams.

Courier service Evri has issued a warning over an increase in sophisticated scam messages, leaving customers wondering what ‘smishing’ is.

The warning refers to a huge rise in scam text messages which pose as the company and ask customers to enter personal and financial information.

Evri said it had seen a 174% increase in reported scams from April 2023 to April 2024.

The company adds that it has successfully closed down more than 5,000 scam sites in the last year, but cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated.

The warning advises customers to look out for messages coming via iMessage, Apple’s messaging service, and Rich Communication Services (RCS), a similar technology used on Google Android phones.

Scam messages sent via these services are more difficult to detect because they are harder to flag than text messages for malicious links.

‘These criminals use the “spray and pray” method, taking advantage of the millions of parcels we deliver to households every day,’ said Richa Bhuttar, chief information security officer at Evri told This is Money. 

‘They know sending thousands of messages every day means some of them are more likely to reach some people expecting a parcel.’

The messages often tell the customer that Evri is charging a ‘redelivery fee’ for a missed parcel – something the delivery service does not do.

In addition, these ‘smishing’ messages will not come from the usual Evri contact number.

Texts from Evri never show a mobile phone number, never ask for payment or include any links other than evri.link.

What is ‘smishing’?

Smishing is an abbreviation of ‘SMS phishing’. While phishing refers to cybercriminals posing as legitimate institutions via email, smishing is the same practice but using text messages.

The purpose of both phishing and smishing is to obtain sensitive information or install malware.

Tell-tale signs of the scam messages include spelling and grammatical errors and a lack of personal greeting, with scammers often using ‘Dear Customer’ or ‘Dear [your email address]’ instead of using the customer’s name.

Meanwhile, ‘vishing’, or voice phishing, involves scammers using the telephone to impersonate reputable organisations and scam their victims.

If you think you’ve been a victim of this type of scam, you should talk to your bank or card provider immediately and report the scam to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.