DHL Express wants to help protect you against fraudulent email and text messages via SMS or Whatsapp. When does DHL Express send you an email or text message, and how do you recognize when these are fraudulent?

DHL Express can send you an e-mail, SMS or Whatsapp message for:

  • Information about the status of your DHL Express (e.g. via our On Demand Delivery service).
  • Payment of VAT and/or duties for a shipment you receive from a shipper in another country.

A request from DHL Express for payment of VAT/duties always contains the airwaybill/AWB-number of your shipment. Do not click on anything, but note the number and check whether it is valid via Track & Trace at dhlexpress.nl

An email address  of DHL always ends with dhl.com. Hover the mouse over the link (do not click on it!) and check to see whether the sender's email address suddenly changes. A criminal can 'mask' their fraudulent e-mail address with a name that seems legitimate. 

Please note: It is possible that you receive several emails or text messages from DHL for one shipment. For every email or message that you receive, please do always check as mentioned above: does the text message contain a correct airwaybill/AWB-number and in the case of email, does the sender genuinely originate from dhl.com. 

Report phishing
Have you received a suspicious email, text message or request for payment, and you are not sure whether it originates from DHL? Please make sure that you do not click on any link and do not open any attachments. Also, please report this via email to spam.expressnl@dhl.com and add the suspicious email als attachment. It is important to not simply forward the suspicious mail, because the original technical needed for investigation might get lost. Receiving the suspicious email as attachment will enable us to track and block the real sender. Please check the below instructions for reporting suspicious email or text messages:

How to report phishing
How to report smishing

More information
In case of doubt whether an email or text message is fraudulent, please consult the Netherlands' Anti-fraud helpdesk. (English)