Fake Delivery Driver Tip Scam

This scam exploits the growing normalisation of digital tipping for delivery drivers, gig economy couriers, and food delivery services. Fraudsters send a text message or notification claiming to be from a delivery driver or courier platform, stating that the driver could not accept a cash tip and inviting the recipient to send a small tip electronically via a provided link.

Because many legitimate delivery and food ordering apps do include an in-app tipping feature, the concept feels familiar and unremarkable, making the fraudulent version easy to overlook as suspicious. The amount requested is deliberately small, both to avoid raising alarm and to make it seem like a reasonable, low-stakes gesture of goodwill.

The real purpose of the scam is to harvest payment card or digital wallet login details through a fake payment page, or to establish a channel that can later be used for larger unauthorised charges once the victim's payment information has been captured.

The scam typically begins with a text message arriving around the time of an expected or recent delivery, claiming to be from the driver personally or from the delivery platform on the driver's behalf, explaining that a tip could not be given in cash and providing a link to send one electronically instead.

The link leads to a page designed to resemble a legitimate payment app, digital wallet, or the delivery platform's own tipping feature. The recipient enters a small amount, along with their card details or payment app login credentials, believing they are simply completing a routine, minor transaction.

Once submitted, the captured payment details or login credentials can be used by the fraudster to make unauthorised transactions, access the victim's actual payment app account, or be sold to other criminals. Because the initial amount involved is so small, victims often do not notice anything is wrong until unfamiliar charges appear on their statements or their payment app account shows unrecognised activity.

The scam succeeds because tipping delivery drivers electronically has become a genuinely normal practice through many legitimate apps, which lowers the recipient's guard considerably compared with an outright request for money. The small amount requested reinforces the impression that this is a low-risk, goodwill gesture rather than a financial risk worth scrutinising.

The timing, arriving close to an actual delivery, adds situational plausibility that a generic scam message would lack, making the recipient more likely to believe the message relates to a real interaction they just had.

A person expecting a parcel receives a text message shortly before or after a delivery, claiming to be from the courier driver or delivery app, saying the driver was unable to accept a cash tip and asking the recipient to send a small tip via a payment app link to 'show appreciation' for careful handling of a fragile or valuable item. The link leads to a payment request page that looks like a legitimate tipping or payment platform. Believing it to be a normal and modest gesture, the recipient sends a few pounds or dollars via the link, entering their card or payment app details in the process. In some versions, the same link is later used to make a much larger unauthorised charge, or the recipient's payment app account itself is compromised because the link tricked them into logging in on a fake page.

Hi, this is your delivery driver — I wasn't able to accept a cash tip, would you mind sending one here instead? [link]

Thanks for your order! Your driver couldn't take a cash tip today. Show your appreciation here: [link]

Please confirm your tip for today's delivery by entering your payment details: [link]

Tip delivery drivers only through the official delivery platform's own app or website, never via a link sent directly by text message. If you want to confirm whether a tipping request is genuine, open the delivery platform's official app directly and check whether an option to add a tip to your recent order already exists there.

Be suspicious of any tip request that arrives as a standalone text with an external link, particularly one asking for card details or payment app login credentials rather than simply processing a payment through an already-authenticated app session.