The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), which issued the warning, said it had seen a host of fake texts where scammers pose as Asda or Morrisons.

Victims are sent messages stating that their order is out for delivery, inviting them to click on a link to a webpage which supposedly allows them to track the order and view a delivery note.

The links are designed to trick victims into sharing their personal details, which the scammers can attempt to use in order to commit identity fraud.

It’s just the latest in a series of text message based scams that the CTSI has flagged up of late, including Royal Mail delivery scams, phoney bank message scams and a National Insurance scam.

Turning to deliveries

Supermarkets that offer deliveries have seen their popularity rise since the pandemic, as more and more of us opt against browsing the aisles in person. Market share data from Kantar World Panel shows that the big name supermarkets had seen the likes of Aldi and Lidl eat into their market share before the pandemic, but have since recovered.

And it’s this move towards more grocery deliveries that the scammers are attempting to exploit, with Katherine Hart, lead officer at CTSI, noting that the fraudsters are sending these texts “on the off chance” that the recipient has placed an order with a particular supermarket.

She added: “The public should be aware that these campaigns are not limited to the Asda, or Morrisons brand, and they may receive messages quoting the names of other major supermarket chains.

“If you receive suspicious texts like these, please contact the supermarket if you shop with them and verify. Also, forward any scam texts to 7726, which is a free reporting service run by Ofcom. We must share this vital intelligence with authorities so that they can grasp the full extent of this problem.”

A spokesperson for Asda added that the supermarket will never ask for any personal information through text messages, and that any communication from Asda will not come from a mobile phone number.”