A "Missed Delivery" Text or a Robocall From a "+" Number? Don't Tap, Don't Press 1: Yamato Warned in August, and Japan's Anti-Phishing Council Still Saw Courier-Themed SMS in September

Hello! I'm Shemhazai, your sentinel.
Today: the "we missed you" text that claims to be from a courier, and the robocall from a number that starts with "+".

The short answer: do not tap the link in the text; check parcels in the courier's app or your shop's order history. If a robocall says "press 1," do not press it; hang up.

Today's real example. Yamato Holdings, in a notice dated 14 August 2026, said it had received many inquiries about automated and live phone calls pretending to be Yamato Transport, and told people to "hang up immediately." The Council of Anti-Phishing Japan's monthly report for September, published on 19 October, says that reports of SMS-based phishing (smishing) had decreased, but that it still received reports of texts impersonating delivery companies in September.

First, how to read the numbers. The Council's September total was 94,661 reports (12,323 more than August, about 15.0% up), but that covers all phishing, email and SMS together, not courier-themed texts alone. The Council describes the SMS portion as "decreasing," and the report does not say how many courier-themed texts there were. The point of this article is not a count. It is what the three big couriers say, officially, that they do not do.

How the fake text and the fake call work

• ▸1. An alarming message arrives: a text such as "We came to deliver your parcel but you were out, so we took it back. Check the delivery details below" (a wording IPA has shown), or a robocall from a number that starts with "+". If you have just shopped online, it is easy to believe
• ▸2. A fake site or a fake operator: the link opens a site that looks real. On the phone, a recording says "we have a question about the parcel being delivered; press 1 to be connected to an operator," and pressing it switches to a fake operator (Yamato Holdings)
• ▸3. They ask for information or payment: the fake site asks for ID and password, card details or verification codes. On Android, some versions make you install a malicious app (IPA). On the phone they pull out personal details and demand payment by e-money or a bank transfer (Yamato Holdings)
• ▸4. The harm spreads: once the malicious app is installed, your own phone sends the same text to strangers in bulk (IPA). The National Police Agency also lists a case where a person installed a parcel-tracking app and found that texts had been sent in bulk to the numbers in their contacts. The victim becomes the next attacker's tool

What the three couriers officially say

• ▸Sagawa Express: its FAQ says it does not contact customers by SMS and tells you to delete the message without clicking the URL
• ▸Yamato Transport: a notice dated 26 August 2025 says it does not send, by email or SMS, messages asking you to confirm an address ("the address is unknown so we cannot deliver"), bills related to changing the delivery time or redelivery, or "absence notices or delivery-schedule notices by SMS"
• ▸Yamato Transport (phone): a notice dated 14 August 2026 says it never calls with an automated voice from an international number starting with "+" about parcels or fees, never tells you to come to a designated place to check a parcel, and never asks for your birthday or bank account number
• ▸Japan Post: a Japan Post Group notice says Japan Post does not send absence notices by SMS. However, a separate Japan Post warning page excludes from its list of suspicious-message traits the SMS that the subsidiary Yubinkyoku Bussan Service sends when you are out. Messages in Japan Post's name cannot always be sorted into real and fake by wording alone

So do not try to judge it. Do not tap the link. That is the most reliable rule. Whether a parcel really arrived can be checked in each company's official app or website, or in your shop's order history.

When a text or a call arrives

• ✓★Do not tap the link; delete the text. If you are curious about a parcel, check the official app, a bookmarked official site, or your shop's order history (our guidance, based on the companies' statements)
• ✓Distrust messages that rush you. Japan Post's warning gives wording such as "if you do not pay within X hours, the delivery will be cancelled" as an example. Yamato also says it does not send address checks or redelivery fee demands
• ✓Hang up on an automated call from a "+" number. Do not press 1, and do not call back
• ✓Hang up on a live caller too if they say "your parcel contains illegal items" or "come to a designated place." Yamato says it never does either
• ✓Do not judge by the company name. Fake absence notices have been confirmed under all three names: Sagawa Express, Japan Post and Yamato Transport (IPA)
• ✓If unsure, contact the number on the company's official website, not the one in the text or call. In Japan you can also use the police advice line #9110

If you already tapped or typed something

• ▸You only opened the link: close it without typing anything. Yamato says that even if you clicked by mistake, you must never enter card details if asked
• ▸You entered an ID and password: change the password at once. If you use the same ID elsewhere, check and change those too (Council of Anti-Phishing Japan)
• ▸You entered card details: contact the card company's lost-or-stolen line at once to stop the card and, if needed, reissue it (Council of Anti-Phishing Japan)
• ▸You installed an app on Android: turn on airplane mode (Wi-Fi off too), find the malicious app in Settings' app list and uninstall it. It does not show on the home screen. IPA also recommends a factory reset afterwards. A reset deletes your SMS, so check things like carrier-billing charges first (IPA)
• ▸You gave personal details or paid on a call: contact the police at once; if unsure, call #9110. For contract or billing consultation, call the consumer hotline 188

What you can do today

• ✓★Decide now: parcels are checked in the official app or order history, never from a text link.
• ✓Tell a parent who lives apart: "do not tap missed-delivery texts, hang up on + robocalls." You can send the three lines below as they are
• ✓You can report a suspicious text you cannot judge to the Council of Anti-Phishing Japan (info@antiphishing.jp, the contact given in the Council's September report)
• ✓Log in to card companies and shops through the genuine app or your password manager, not through a link in an email or text. (The Council's September report gives this as the response to a message that urges you to log in)

Spot-the-scam quiz

Picture this. In the evening a text arrives: "We came to deliver your parcel but you were out, so we took it back. Request redelivery here," with a link. You have just shopped online.

Three lines to send to your family

• ▸Do not tap the link in a "missed delivery" text. Check parcels in the official app or your shop's order history (Sagawa, Yamato and Japan Post statements)
• ▸★Hang up on a robocall from a "+" number; do not press 1 even if told to. If money or personal details come up, it is a scam. If unsure, call #9110 (police advice line, Japan)
• ▸Even if you tapped, do not enter card numbers or passwords. If you did, contact the card company and change the password. For contract or billing advice, call 188 (consumer hotline, Japan)

Where to get help

If you are unsure whether it is a scam, or you have already paid, go to your nearest police station or call the police advice line #9110 (Japan). For contract or billing consultation, call the consumer hotline 188 (it connects to your nearest consumer center in Japan). If you entered card details, use the card company's lost-or-stolen line; if you installed an app, you can also consult your mobile carrier.

What we could not confirm

• ▸A current count of courier-themed texts alone. The Council's September report says only that the SMS portion is decreasing
• ▸Which company names are most used this month. The September report gives no breakdown by company name
• ▸Whether the calls Yamato warned about on 14 August are still going on. The notice is dated 14 August and we have not checked the situation since
• ▸Japan Post's exceptional SMS. We did not check the wording or URL form of the SMS that Yubinkyoku Bussan Service sends when you are out
• ▸Sagawa's verification-code SMS. Two-step verification codes for its member service can arrive by email or SMS (Sagawa FAQ). That means there are no absence-notice SMS; it does not mean verification-code SMS are fake
• ▸Step-by-step operations on your own phone. Uninstalling and resetting follow IPA's 2020 material (with a December 2021 addition); screen names differ by model

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