The 5 Scam Texts to Know in 2026 and What to Do With Them
Americans reported losing $470 million to scams that started with a text message, five times the figure from 2020, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
What makes that number striking is that the number of reports actually fell. Fewer people are reporting, and far more money is going. The texts got better.
The FTC publishes which text scams it sees most. There are five, they have barely changed, and once you know all five you have covered nearly everything that will arrive on your phone.
1. The package that cannot be delivered
The most commonly reported text scam of all. A message says there is a problem with a delivery: a missing apartment number, an unpaid customs charge, a failed attempt.
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It works because most people have something on the way. The message does not have to be convincing, it only has to arrive on a day when it is plausible.
The link goes to a copy of a courier's website that asks for a small redelivery fee. The fee is not the point. Your card details are.
What to do: if you are expecting a parcel, open the courier's own app or type their address yourself. Real tracking numbers work on the real site.
2. The easy job or task offer
A message offers remote work, often vague about the employer, promising good money for simple online tasks.
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The FTC calls these task scams, and they follow a set path. You complete a few tasks and receive a small genuine payment, which makes the whole thing feel real. Then a task requires you to deposit your own money to unlock a higher tier of earnings. That deposit is where the money leaves.
What to do: no legitimate job asks you to pay to work. None. If money has to go from you to them at any point, it is not employment.
3. The bank fraud alert
A text warns of a suspicious purchase, a locked debit card, or an attempted transfer. It usually includes a dollar amount large enough to alarm you and a number to call.
Frequently there is a second stage. You call the number, a calm person answers, and they help you move your money to a safe account. That account is theirs.
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What to do: never call a number from a text about your bank. Call the number on the back of your card. And note that no bank has a safe account. If somebody tells you to move money to protect it, the call is a scam. Our guide to fake bank callers covers the courier version of this.
4. The unpaid toll
This one has grown faster than any other. The FTC reported in May 2026 that government imposter reports rose 40 percent in 2025, driven in part by messages about overdue tolls.
These texts spoof real toll programmes, including E-ZPass, SunPass, FasTrak, and TxTag, and they threaten late fees or suspension of your vehicle registration if you do not pay immediately.
The amount is deliberately tiny, often a few dollars. A small sum does not trigger the caution a large one would, and most people cannot recall every toll they have passed through.
What to do: contact your state's toll agency through a number or website you already know. Never the link in the message. If you genuinely owe a toll, it will be on your account there.
5. The wrong number that keeps talking
A friendly message arrives, clearly meant for somebody else. "Hi Sarah, are we still on for Thursday?"
You reply to be helpful. They apologise for the mistake, then keep chatting. Over days or weeks a friendship forms, and eventually an investment comes up, usually crypto, on a platform that shows your balance rising nicely.
This is the opening move of the largest loss category there is. Investment fraud cost adults over 60 $3.52 billion in 2025, according to the FBI.
What to do: do not reply to a wrong number text. Not even "wrong number". Any reply confirms a real person reads this line, and that is what they are testing for.
Why these five work
The FTC recorded more than one million imposter scam reports in 2025, with $3.5 billion in losses. Imposter fraud is now the single largest reported category.
Every one of these five texts borrows credibility from something you already trust: a courier, an employer, your bank, a state agency, an ordinary stranger. None of them tries to convince you of anything unusual. They present something completely normal, then add a deadline.
That combination is the whole mechanism. Normal plus urgent.
The rule that covers all of them
Never act inside the message.
Do not tap the link. Do not call the number in the text. Do not reply. Instead, open the app or type the address yourself, or use a number you already had.
It takes about thirty seconds longer and it defeats every scam in this article, including versions that have not been invented yet. You are not judging whether a message is genuine. You are refusing to use the route it offers you.
How to report a scam text, free
This takes ten seconds and genuinely helps.
- Forward the message to 7726, which spells SPAM on a keypad. This is free on all major US carriers and sends the message straight to your network's abuse team so the sending number can be blocked.
- Report it to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
- If it was a toll text, also file at ic3.gov, which is tracking this campaign specifically.
- Then delete it. Do not keep it to look at later, and do not send it to relatives as a warning, because forwarded screenshots often still contain the live link.
If you already tapped the link
- If you entered card details, call your card issuer now and ask them to freeze the card. Do not wait to see whether a charge appears.
- If you entered a password, change it immediately, and change it anywhere else you used the same one.
- If you sent money, contact your bank and ask about a recall. Wire transfers can sometimes be stopped within 24 to 72 hours.
- Watch for the follow-up. People who fall for one scam get contacted again, often by someone offering to recover the lost money for a fee. That is the same crew, coming back.
Our page on the first 48 hours after a scam covers the bank conversation in more detail.
Check a number before you trust it
If a number has texted or called you, look it up. Other people may have reported it already, and you will see what they were told.
Check a phone number here, free and in about ten seconds.
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