Fake “Delivery Failed” Emails from Walmart & Costco

Beware of fake “delivery failed” email notices claiming to be from such stores as Walmart and Costco.

These official-looking emails are targeting customers some of the most widely-used merchants, in hope that some readers who are expecting gifts may be confused into clicking on the links.

Walmart

Below is a fake Walmart email which we have received twice this week:

Sir/Madam,

Your order WM-006443476 delivery has failed because the address was not specified correctly. You are advised to fill this form and send it back to us.
If your reply is not received within one week, you will be paid your money back but 17% will be deducted since you order was booked for Christmas holidays.

The links in the email above do not go to any website associated with Walmart. In our example it linked to a domain in Germany,  fewo-haus-fuchs.de, which certainly wouldn’t be used in official correspondence from the super store.

Costco

This Costco email has a similar format to the example above.

Unfortunately the delivery of your order COS-0056893495 was cancelled since the specified address of the recipient was not correct. You are recommended to complete this form and send it back with your reply to us.

Please do this within the period of one week – if we dont get your timely reply you will be paid your money back less 21% since your order was booked for Christmas.

As with the Walmart example above, this email did not come from Costco.

Bottom Line

If you receive emails such as these, it is best to delete them. Clicking on these malicious links can increase your vulnerability to malware and viruses, such as Cryptolocker which has been in the news in recent months. In some cases, we have confirmed that zip files containing viruses have been automatically downloaded when clicking these links.

If you are expecting a package from Walmart or Costco, log in to the official website, or refer to your confirmation email for tracking instructions.

Have you received an email like the examples above? Let us hear from you in the comments below.