Parcel-delivery phishing scams are not new. Cybercriminals have been impersonating FedEx, Australia Post, DHL, UPS and other courier brands for years because they know that people trust delivery notifications and are often quick to click.
These scams often resurface and spike in frequency in the lead-up to peak shopping periods like Black Friday & Cyber Saturday, and across Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, along with other holiday seasons when consumers and businesses alike are expecting parcel updates and may have less time to scrutinise emails.
For partners and resellers supporting business customers, this seasonal trend is an opportunity to educate clients about the risks and the need for robust, layered protection beyond native email defences.
Delivery phishing: an old tactic with seasonal peaks
Recent threats intercepted by MailGuard illustrate this persistent pattern:
- FedEx shipping scam targeting personal and financial data – Posing as legitimate shipping notices, designed to capture credentials and payment details.
- Australia Post scam seeking fake delivery fees – A recurring threat, especially prominent in Australia.
- DHL-branded phishing impersonating delivery notifications and import duty payments – Exploiting cross-border shipping expectations.
These campaigns use familiar logos and urgent language, often hosted on compromised or otherwise “trusted” infrastructure. As a result, they can bypass standard native protections and filters in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, and fool even well-trained staff.
Why basic email protection is not enough
Business customers often assume that the built-in protection in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace will block such threats. While native filters provide a first layer of defence, they are not optimised to detect fast-moving, socially engineered campaigns that rely on brand impersonation and legitimate-looking infrastructure.
A multi-layered approach is essential:
- Specialist Ai-powered cloud email security like MailGuard that focuses on detecting new, suspicious campaigns in real time, often hours or even days ahead of native filters.
- Employee education and awareness training to reduce click-through rates and encourage scepticism around “unexpected” delivery updates.
- Email continuity solutions to maintain business operations if a compromise or attack forces an email shutdown or outage.
- Archiving services to ensure organisations have a secure, unalterable record of communications for incident response, compliance and recovery after an attack.
For partners, this broader conversation about resilience, not just prevention, is a key differentiator.
Guidance for MailGuard partners
Lead with real-world examples
Use MailGuard blog posts on parcel-delivery scams as conversation starters. Clients relate better to risks they’ve seen in headlines or in their inbox.
Highlight seasonal risk
Remind customers that phishing volumes typically surge during holiday periods and shopping events, when their teams are at their busiest.
Emphasise the gaps in native protection
Show how fast-breaking impersonation campaigns can bypass default Microsoft 365 or Google filters. Explain why adding a specialist layer gives earlier protection.
Promote continuity and archiving as part of resilience
Position these services as critical to business survival and compliance. A compromise or outage should not stop email flow or disrupt access to records.
Your expertise in selecting, implementing and managing a layered solution helps clients reduce risk and improve resilience.
Final thought
Parcel-delivery scams thrive on trust and timing, and they exploit seasonal peaks when users are most distracted. By helping customers deploy layered defences that combine advanced email security with continuity, archiving and education, partners can deliver more than just a product: they deliver peace of mind and sustained operational resilience.
Keeping Businesses Safe and Secure
Prevention is always better than a cure, and one of the best defences is to encourage businesses to proactively boost their company’s cyber resilience levels to avoid threats landing in inboxes in the first place. The fact that a staggering 94% of malware attacks are delivered by email, makes email an extremely important vector for businesses to fortify.
No one vendor can stop all email threats, so it’s crucial to remind customers that if they are using Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, they should also have a third-party email security specialist in place to mitigate their risk. For example, using a specialist AI-powered email threat detection solution like MailGuard.
For a few dollars per staff member per month, businesses are protected by MailGuard's specialist, zero-day email security. Special Ops for when speed matters! Our real-time zero-day, email threat detection amplifies your client’s intelligence, knowledge, security and defence.
MailGuard provides a range of solutions to keep businesses safe, from email filtering to email continuity and archiving solutions. Speak to your clients today to ensure they’re prepared and get in touch with our team to discuss fortifying your client’s cyber resilience.
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