Is pkginfo@ups.com real? What UPS confirms
UPS answers this on its Tracking Support page, under the question about a text, email or phone call from someone claiming to be UPS. A real UPS email comes from one of nine addresses, all on ups.com and listed in the table above; pkginfo@ups.com is one of them.
The same answer gives three more checks:
- Links: a real UPS link starts with
https://www.ups.comorhttps://billing.ups.com. UPS’s fraud page adds that secure “epackage” links always start withhttps://ftp2.ups.com. - Texts: a real UPS text comes from 75137 or 24031.
- Payments: if a message asks you to pay for a package, track it first and select “pay now” there; to pay a bill, log in to the billing center.
UPS’s fraud page also says that UPS does not request payments, personal or financial information, account numbers, IDs or passwords in an unsolicited way by email, mail, phone or fax, or in exchange for transporting goods. A “delivery fee” email with a payment form contradicts that.
How to check the headers of a UPS email
UPS’s fraud page points out that fraudulent emails often appear to come from trusted sources and that the true sender may show only in the internet headers. In the new Outlook for Windows, open the message and select More actions > View > View message details; Gmail on a computer: More > Show original; other apps: see how to get the full headers. Then read the topmost Authentication-Results, the one your own provider added. A genuine message from pkginfo@ups.com looks roughly like this (shortened):
Authentication-Results: mx.example.net;
dkim=pass header.d=ups.com;
spf=pass smtp.mailfrom=ups.com;
dmarc=pass (p=REJECT) header.from=ups.com
header.from=ups.comanddmarc=passmean SPF or DKIM passed for a domain aligned with the From address (RFC 9989). That is the proof the message came from UPS’s systems.dmarc=failforups.commeans the From address was forged.ups.compublishesp=reject, so providers that enforce DMARC normally refuse such mail before it reaches you.- A pass for a different domain proves only that the message came from that domain, whatever name the inbox shows.
The email header analyzer reads the verdicts for you. What is a DMARC record explains what p=reject asks receiving servers to do.
Look-alike patterns in fake UPS delivery emails
UPS’s fraud page lists common indicators of a fraudulent email, among them altered website addresses such as www.unitedparcelservices.com instead of www.ups.com, and links with numbers in place of letters, abbreviations or slight misspellings. Hover over a link (long-press on a phone) to see where it really goes. The same tricks show up in sender addresses:
- UPS plus a lure word:
ups-delivery-fee.exampleorups-parcel-hold.example. All nine addresses UPS lists are onups.com. - The real name in front: in
ups.com.redelivery.examplethe domain that counts isredelivery.example. - Display-name spoofing:
"UPS Delivery" <notice@example.net>shows only “UPS Delivery” in many inboxes. - Urgency and threats: UPS quotes lines like “Your account will be suspended within 24 hours” as an indicator of fraud, along with distorted logos, poor grammar and requests for money in exchange for a delivery.
The scam email checker above compares the sender with official carrier domains and flags these patterns. Shopping notifications are checked the same way: see the Amazon sender check and all sender checks.