SOCIAL MEDIA FEEDS and WhatsApp groups have been awash with warnings this month with claims that leaflets supposedly from delivery company DHL may actually be scams.

“This is a new scam,” one version of the claim posted to Facebook on 17 December read, next to an image of a DHL leaflet.

“Sorry we missed you,” the leaflet in the image reads. “Re-arrange your delivery now by following 3 simple steps.” The supposed leaflet then asks the reader to scan a QR code.

The Facebook post continues: “They’ll put [this] in your letter box or at your door. Please don’t scan just throw it away. Please pass it on.”

However, there is no evidence that such a scam is operating in Ireland.

DHL has confirmed that the image showing one of the supposedly fake leaflets is real, not a forgery.

However, these leaflets are not delivered in Ireland and there is no evidence that such a scam is operating here.

Although DHL has said its drivers do not leave such cards in Ireland, the card shown on posts claiming that a scam is running in Ireland is legitimate, the Irish Times has reported. 

A DHL spokesperson said that the leaflet was a legitimate card left by a real driver in Singapore, and that scanning the QR code would have taken the user to the company’s website.

Rather than being a scam website, the link allowed DHL customers to re-arrange the delivery of their package from the company.

DHL also said they had no reports that such cards, whether fraudulent or otherwise, were being posted to addresses in Ireland.

Scams involving QR codes do exist, including one involving fraudulent stickers being placed on to parking meters in parts of Dublin earlier this year.

However, such codes usually direct users to scam websites that try to trick people into sharing personal or financial information, for example by mimicking a banking website and asking for login information.
CitizensInformation.ie, a state-owned website, warns of a current scam called “quishing” involving the fake QR codes on parking meters.

Banks and other financial organisations have reported very high levels of “smishing” scams this month, Gardaí said last week.

These scams often involve fraudulent text messages asking the reader to ring a number to resolve an issue with their bank account.

“When customers then ring the number, automated music and voice messages mimic the bank in ququestion,aking the experience very convincing,” a statement by An Garda Síochána said.

“When an agent answers the phone, they scam customers into divulging their banking and security credentials.”

The Journal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.