The fake delivery agent is back - what to watch for

You have agreed to buy something on WhatsApp. The seller is polite and the price is fair. Then a new number is added to the chat, or messages you directly: "Hello, I am the delivery agent for your parcel. Please pay the 5,000 XAF delivery fee so we can dispatch." It sounds routine. It is one of the most common scams in Cameroon right now, and it is back in force.

How the scam works

The "agent" is either the seller using a second SIM, or an accomplice. There is no parcel. The delivery fee is the whole point - small enough that you will pay it without thinking, and the only money they were ever going to get. Sometimes there is a second step: after the delivery fee comes an "insurance fee", a "customs clearance fee" or a "wrong address correction fee". Each is a little larger. Each comes with a reason and a sense of urgency. When you stop paying, both numbers go quiet.

Variants we have seen reported this month:

• A fake tracking page with a real-looking courier logo and a "pay to release" button.
• An "agent" who sends a photo of a parcel with your name written on it.
• A voice note from someone claiming to be at a depot who "needs the fee in the next ten minutes or the parcel goes back".
• Delivery fee requested by a number with a courier company's name as its WhatsApp display name.

Why it keeps working

Because delivery fees are real. Genuine sellers do use motorbike couriers and inter-city bus parcel services, and those do cost money. The scam hides inside a normal expectation. And because the amount is small, victims rarely report it, so the same numbers keep operating.

What to watch for

1. A third party asking you for money. In a genuine deal, you pay the seller. If someone else wants money from you, that is the deal changing shape mid-way, and it is the moment to stop.
2. Fees that appear after you agreed the price. Delivery cost should be part of the price you negotiated, or agreed explicitly before you commit - never introduced afterwards.
3. Urgency. "The parcel goes back in ten minutes" is pressure, not logistics. Real couriers hold parcels for days.
4. Payment to a personal number. Courier companies do not collect fees to a random MoMo number. If the "agent" cannot give you a company account, there is no company.
5. You cannot verify the tracking independently. A real tracking number works on the courier's own website, not only on a link the agent sent you.

What to do if you have already paid

Report the transaction to your mobile-money provider immediately - if the money has not been withdrawn yet, there is a small chance of a freeze. Screenshot the whole conversation, including the numbers. Report both numbers in WhatsApp. Then stop paying: every further fee is money you will not see again, and paying one makes you a target for the next.

How escrow removes the scam entirely

When the deal runs through Bizik, the buyer pays the full agreed amount, including any delivery cost, into escrow once. That is the only payment the buyer ever makes. Nobody can ask for a second one, because there is no mechanism for it: the seller collects the delivery cost from escrow when the deal is released, not from you in a side chat.

If a "delivery agent" appears and asks for a fee, the answer is simple: "Everything is in escrow. Ask the seller to collect it on release." A real courier does not care who pays them. A fake one has just lost the only money they were after.

And if the parcel really never arrives? The money is still in escrow, the buyer opens a dispute, and it is refunded. The scam needs you to pay before you receive. Escrow makes that impossible.

Share this with someone who buys online

The fake delivery agent works on new buyers, older relatives and anyone in a hurry. If you know someone who shops on WhatsApp or Facebook Marketplace, send them this. It takes one sentence to remember: nobody but the seller gets paid, and the seller gets paid through escrow.

Read the full list of seven online scams in Cameroon and how escrow stops each one, or see how a Bizik deal works.