Help With My Tech · Practical tech news
You are waiting for a gift to arrive. Then a text says your package cannot be delivered until you fix your address. The timing feels right. Before you tap, take a moment to check another way.
Our advice: check the package, not the link. Open the store’s app or its official website yourself. You can find out whether there is a real delivery problem without following the text’s instructions.
47%
of adults in AARP’s new survey said they had received a fake message about a shipping problem.
A useful habit
Let your order history tell you what is happening. Do not let an unexpected message choose where you sign in.
AARP published its holiday-shopping research on November 11, 2026. Its survey included 1,801 U.S. adults age 18 and older who use the internet and shop during the holidays. The figure above is not a senior-only statistic. These scams are familiar; the report offers a timely reason to practice a safer routine. Read AARP’s November 11 findings.
Try this five-step delivery check
- Pause. Leave the message alone while you check. You do not need to reply to keep your place in line.
- Open the store yourself. Use the shopping app you already know or type its official website address.
- Find your order. Check the item, expected delivery date, and tracking details in your order history.
- Contact support there if needed. Use contact details from that official site or app. Avoid the telephone number supplied by the suspicious message.
- Decide what to do with the text. If it is fraudulent, use your messaging app’s reporting and blocking options.
Cornell’s security guidance, also published November 11, recommends visiting the company’s official website directly when an urgent message arrives. It warns that fake delivery notices may lead to a false website or harmful download. Read Cornell’s holiday scam guidance.
“I can check on my package without using the link in this text.”
Common questions
But I really did order something. Doesn’t that make the text believable?
It makes the timing believable. It does not prove who sent the message. Think of your order history as a separate set of facts you can check.
What if the message says I will lose my package?
Use the same calm routine. A claim that sounds urgent is a reason to verify it independently. You do not have to solve the problem through that message.
Already entered payment details or a password?
If you shared card or bank details, contact your bank or card issuer promptly using a known contact number. If you shared an account password, change it through the real service and change it anywhere you reused it. The FTC offers recovery steps for different situations, updated June 2026. Getting help quickly matters more than feeling embarrassed.
For practice, open an ordinary recent order now, while nothing is urgent. Find its tracking page, then close the app and find it again. That small rehearsal gives you a familiar path to follow the next time a delivery text interrupts your day.
Sources checked November 11, 2026: AARP research, published November 11; Cornell IT guidance, published November 11; FTC recovery guidance, updated June 2026. The check routine and practice exercise are Help With My Tech teaching suggestions.
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Featured image: Human Imagined + AI Generated for Help With My Tech. This is an illustrative scene, not a photograph of an actual customer or an exact app screen.