Watch Out for Fake Text Messages: Learn How to Reliably Spot a Scam

The current wave of fake messages masquerades as official communication from PPL and attempts to convince recipients that their package has been held up due to a missing ZIP code. The message also creates a sense of urgency—it states that if you do not update your address within 24 hours via the attached link, the package will be returned to the sender. These text messages come from fraudulent contacts that include the yahoo.com or hotmail.com domains.

This is what a fake text message looks like; we've been seeing an increased number of these:

The purpose of these messages is to create a stressful situation and trick you into clicking on a fraudulent link—under no circumstances should you click on it, and we urge you to exercise the utmost caution when dealing with any suspicious messages.

How Can You Reliably Spot a Fake Text Message?

We’ve put together a few basic rules to help you easily spot a scam. 

👉 Check the sender’s name 
Official SMS messages from PPL are never sent from a regular, unknown phone number or email address. The text “PPL” will always be clearly displayed as the sender on your screen. 

👉 Watch out for unexpected additional charges 
We never ask you for extra money during shipping. The only time we require payment in connection with a shipment is for packages you’ve ordered with cash on delivery. 

👉 Check the web address 
Fraudulent text messages typically contain a link that may seem legitimate at first glance and include the abbreviation “ppl,” but it leads to a fake and potentially very dangerous website. Most often, these links contain numbers and, in some cases, random strings of letters. 

If you're not sure whether this is a scam or not, please contact us at info@ppl.cz. We'll look into it together and resolve the issue.  

Thank you, and please stay vigilant.