• Victims receive emails, calls or text messages that a parcel was sent to them.
• Fraudsters allege that ZRA has held on to the parcel on grounds of unpaid taxes.
• Victims are asked to send a certain amount of money to clear the alleged taxes.

Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) has observed an increase in the number of courier fraud cases in which unsuspecting citizens are swindled by online scammers.
In a statement, ZRA Communications Manager Oliver Nzala said the Authority has noted that victims receive either emails, calls or text messages that a parcel was sent to them but allege that ZRA has held on to the parcel on grounds of unpaid taxes.
Mr. Nzala noted that victims are asked to send a certain amount of money to clear the alleged taxes and a number of them have ended up losing a lot of their hard earned money.
“Prolonged stories around clearance and release of the miracle gift develops after sending the money, one after another, each tale more entangled than before. The Authority would like to remind members of the public that they must avoid succumbing to online scammers as long as they never ordered anything online.
“First, you must have ordered a parcel from one of the recognized online traders like Amazon, Ali Express, Alibaba, to mention but a few. If it’s a gift being sent through courier, you should also have prior certified information about that parcel that will be sent to you by someone you know who lives abroad,” Mr. Nzala noted.
He added that through their private arrangement, genuine online traders will sub-contract a courier company or individual agents to receive the said goods upon arrival in Zambia and online purchased parcels have an average delivery period of 5-7 days.
“The goods arrive in a manifest assigned to the names of the licensed contracted agent/courier who then contacts you with the valuation of the taxes due, where applicable. Parcels are subjected to customs goods clearance processes and upon payment of taxes due, they are granted a release order and the agent or Courier Company picks up the goods and distributes them to the final owners,” he said.
He further urged citizens to be vigilant and not send mobile money to the random callers to avoid being scammed by email fraudsters.