You’ve probably received this text.
SMS from unknown number
USPS: Your package cannot be delivered due to an incomplete address. Update your information here: usps-redelivery.com
59,271 people reported this exact pattern to the FBI in a single year.
But here’s what changed: the newer versions include your real name and partial home address. Pulled from data breaches. That’s why they work — they don’t look like scams anymore. They look like real delivery notifications from someone who knows where you live. Forward this before they click it ›
This is one pattern. The FBI documented hundreds of thousands more. Here’s the full picture.
Think of the last person who sent you a screenshot of a delivery text asking “is this real?”
Send them this — 2 seconds.
What the FBI reported — latest available data (2024)
$16.6Breported stolen
859,532 complaints. More than 2,000 every day. The average victim lost $19,372. That’s a car. A semester of college. Six months of rent.
FBI IC3 2024 Annual Report
83%weren’t hacked — they were tricked
The vast majority of losses came from people being deceived, not from technical exploits. Fake emails from your “boss.” A call from your “bank.” A text from “USPS.” The scam works because you trust the sender.
FBI IC3 2024 — Cyber-enabled fraud ($13.7B)
$470Mlost to text scams alone
That fake USPS text at the top of this page? It’s part of a pattern that nearly doubled year over year. The FTC says most text scams go unreported — the real number is likely several times higher.
FBI IC3 (59,271 toll/delivery reports) + FTC 2024
$4.9Bstolen from seniors
Americans over 60 lost more money to fraud than any other age group. Up 43% in one year. The #1 attack: someone calls pretending to be tech support. Your parents might not tell you it happened.
FBI IC3 2024 Elder Fraud Report
$9.3Bin crypto fraud
Up 66% from the previous year. Most of it is “pig butchering” — weeks of fake friendship or romance before the investment pitch. Crypto ATM scam complaints nearly doubled.
FBI IC3 2024 — Cryptocurrency fraud
$2.77Bfrom fake work emails
Business email compromise. A spoofed email from your “CEO,” a rushed wire transfer, and six figures disappear. Nearly $8.5 billion lost this way in the last three years.
FBI IC3 2024 — BEC
None of these attacks required advanced technology.
They required trust. A familiar logo. A name you recognize. A sense of urgency you don’t question. The people who lost money weren’t careless — they just didn’t know what was circulating that week.
Still here? You care more than most.
Most people scroll past. You read the data. Now share it — your parents, your group chat, that one friend who clicks everything.