Remove “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email

The “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email is a scam that tries to scam users out of money by claiming a parcel cannot be delivered because of incomplete information. The email is disguised as a notification from UPS, a shipping and parcel delivery company. According to the email, users have to confirm the address and payment within 24 hours. If no action is taken, the shipment will supposedly be returned to the original sender. The email’s contents are completely fake. If you were to interact with it, you would be asked to provide your personal information as well as pay the fake shipping fee. The malicious actors operating this email campaign are after both your information and your money.

 

 

The “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email has a “DELIVERY ON HOLD” subject line, which will certainly catch the attention of many users who regularly receive parcels. The email explains that a package cannot be delivered to you because of incomplete information or a pending delivery fee. The email also includes fake information like shipment ID, recipient IP, and last update date. The “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email asks that you update the information and make the necessary payment within 24 hours to prevent the shipment from being returned to the original sender.

The email has an “Update Shipping Info” button, clicking which will lead you to a fake UPS site that asks for your personal information (full name, home address, phone number, etc.), as well as request that you enter your payment card information and pay the shipping fee. This information is what the malicious actors behind this malicious campaign are after.

If you were to enter your personal information, it could later be used to perform more sophisticated scams on you. Scam targets are considerably more likely to interact with a scam if they are addressed by name and other information about them is mentioned. As for payment card details, they would be used to make unauthorized transactions or sold to other malicious actors.

If you received this email and interacted with it, you need to cancel your payment card to prevent it from being used by malicious actors. There’s nothing you can do about your personal information being in the hands of cybercriminals, but you can at least be more careful with unsolicited contact.

The full “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email is below:

Subject: DELIVERY ON HOLD

UPS
Delivery Action Needed
Status: On Hold
Shipment ID: –
Recipient ID: –
Last Update: –
Next Step Required

We’re currently unable to deliver your package due to incomplete information or a pending delivery fee. To ensure your shipment continues without delay, please confirm your address and payment within 24 hours.
Important:
If no action is taken, your shipment may be returned to the original sender.
Update Shipping Info
This is an automated message from UPS. Please do not reply to this email.
© 1994–2025 United Parcel Service of America, Inc.
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How to identify malicious emails

If you want to avoid interacting with malicious emails in the future, you need to be able to recognize at least the most common characteristics. Malicious campaigns that are not targeted at specific individuals but instead sent to numerous users are often easier to identify, as they tend to be riddled with mistakes and appear unprofessional. More sophisticated malicious emails are typically directed at high-profile targets.

One of the first things to check when you receive an email that asks you to do something (e.g., confirm your personal information) is the sender’s email address. Many malicious emails are sent from random, suspicious-looking addresses that are easy to identify. This is the case with this “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email. The sender’s email address clearly does not belong to USP, considering its domain is not used. However, more advanced phishing attempts may use email addresses that appear legitimate, so important that you do at least a quick online search to confirm their legitimacy.

Another indicator of a malicious email is poor grammar and spelling. These emails often contain noticeable mistakes and generally do not look professional enough to be sent by legitimate companies like UPS. Legitimate emails, especially automated ones, are rarely, if ever, riddled with such mistakes. Although the “UPS – Delivery Action Needed” email does not have enough text to display these kinds of mistakes, it still comes across as very unprofessional.

Even the most convincing phishing emails can be identified by carefully considering the situation rather than acting impulsively. For example, if a parcel delivery email requests your payment card information, it is an immediate red flag.