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Facebook posts encourage Canadians to enter drawings to claim abandoned mail shipments by paying a small fee. There is no such contest; the links on the messages do not lead to any site affiliated with Canada Post, which confirmed it had no such offer.
“Every year, numerous forgotten parcels accumulate in warehouses,” says the text of a September 11, 2023 Facebook post. “According to the new regulations, the Canada Post organizes random parcel draws among people who submit requests, all for just 2,99$.”
The text and photos of what appear to be boxes of unclaimed packages covered with Canada Post logos were published by a Facebook page named “ExpressPost – CA.” The page shared similar posts on September 11 which received hundreds of likes and comments and were reshared by individual users.
A profile called “Canada Post Ontario” with more than 1,000 followers shared a similar post on September 8, claiming abandoned parcels could be dispensed in a “random parcel sell” if commenters messaged that they were “Interested!”
While they claimed to be affiliated with the mail carrier, the Facebook pages do not link to its website.
Canada Post, the Canadian crown corporation responsible for national mail service, said it was not operating any such lottery, directing customers to tips for avoiding scams.
“We are aware of these fraudulent pages on social media platforms and can confirm that we do not sell packages that have not been claimed,” said Lisa Liu, a spokeswoman for Canada Post.
Unclaimed items are returned to the sender after 30 days, according to Canada Post’s official website (archived here).
Liu said Canada Post recommends customers report the posts to the social media sites rather than interacting with the pages.
Fraudulent giveaways
A keyword search using text from the publications claiming to be from Canada Post reveals similar posts with nearly identical wording on Facebook, using the names of different national mail carriers, such as the UK Royal Mail, Emirates Post Group, Australia Post and the US Postal Service. AFP has previously fact-checked scams advertising fake Amazon “mystery boxes.”
The page “ExpressPost – CA” was created the same day it published the posts falsely advertising the parcel draws.
Following a link included in its posts takes the user to a page almost entirely in Greek, which advertises CoolSculpting fat-removal procedures.
AFP has debunked other false promotion scams targeting Canadians purporting to involve oil investments, artificial intelligence stock trading and low-cost railway promotions.
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