No. Receita Federal does not accept payment for international parcels through links, QR codes, credit cards or debit cards, and it never calls or messages anyone to collect a charge that would release a parcel.
The import fee scam in Brazil starts with a message saying a parcel is held at customs and asking for payment through a link, a QR code or Pix. Receita Federal, the Brazilian tax authority, never calls or messages to collect a charge that releases a parcel, and never takes payment by link, QR code or card.
If you sell into Brazil, this is your problem too. A customer who loses money to a fake charge blames the brand on the box, not the criminal who sent the text. The refund request, the chargeback and the bad review all land on your side.
How does the import fee scam work in Brazil?
The fraud copies the look of a real duty notice. The buyer gets an SMS, an email or a messaging app alert saying an international parcel reached Brazil and is held at customs until a fee is paid. The link opens a page dressed up as a carrier or a government site.
That page often displays the person's full name, CPF (the Brazilian individual taxpayer number), date of birth and an invented tracking history, built to look convincing. It then asks for more personal data and issues a QR code for payment. Source: Receita Federal, alert on international parcels, September 2026.
Pay once and a second charge arrives within hours: storage, a fine, a new delivery attempt. The second instalment is where the money really is.
There is a version aimed at sellers, too. The criminal poses as a customer, claims the carrier charged an extra fee to release the order and asks for an advance refund, with a forged receipt attached. The pattern is identical: a charge that exists in nobody's system.
What does the Brazilian tax authority never do?
It never calls or sends a collection message to release a parcel, and it does not accept payment for international parcels through links, QR codes, credit cards or debit cards. Both statements come from Receita Federal's own "É Golpe?" (Is it a scam?) page, in its postal and express shipments section. Source: Receita Federal, September 2026.
There is a third point, and it kills the scammer's favourite threat. Unpaid duty on an international parcel is never registered with SPC or Serasa, the Brazilian credit bureaus, according to Receita Federal. Any message threatening a credit record over a parcel is fake by definition.
How is Brazilian import duty actually charged?
The charge appears inside the carrier's own system, never in a link. When the purchase is made on a platform certified under Remessa Conforme, Brazil's compliance programme for cross-border sellers, tax is collected at checkout and nothing is due on arrival. Outside the programme, the charge is issued and settled inside the courier's system, with 20 days to pay counted from issue. Source: Receita Federal, August 2026.
The amounts follow the RTS (Regime de Tributação Simplificada, Brazil's simplified taxation regime for parcels). For a purchase by an individual, import duty is zero up to US$ 50 on a certified platform and 60% above that, with a fixed deduction of US$ 30, plus state ICMS of 17% to 20% in every case (Receita Federal, June 2026). The full mechanics are in the guide to courier imports and the RTS regime.
Law 15.502, of 10 September 2026, authorised Brazil's Ministry of Finance to set, by its own act, a zero rate up to US$ 50 and a 30% rate in the band up to US$ 3,000, depending on the shipping mode and on membership of a compliance programme. The act setting the 30% rate has not been published. Source: Planalto, September 2026.
At DHL, the only payments requested by email or SMS are duties and taxes, and the process includes a one-time password sent to the consignee's registered contact before the payment is processed (DHL, September 2026).
Real charge or scam: where do they split?
The table lines up the five points where the fraud gives itself away, against the procedure in force in September 2026.
Signal | Legitimate charge | Scam |
How it reaches you | Tracking status and a notice inside the carrier's system, with the shipment number | SMS, email or messaging app, always carrying a payment link |
Where you pay | On the carrier's site or app, or on the store's site under Remessa Conforme | On a page opened by the link, outside the company's domain |
Payment method | A method offered inside the system, with a one-time password at DHL | Stand-alone QR code, Pix to a third party key, card typed into the page |
Amount | Calculated under the RTS regime, with the maths shown | Round or low figure, with no breakdown |
Pressure | 20 days from the date the charge was issued | Return today, credit record, last chance |
How can a buyer check the charge in three steps?
- Open tracking by typing the tracker address by hand, using the shipment number, never the link in the message.
- Check the sender: DHL writes from @dhl.com and subdomains such as @express.dhl.com, from @dpdhl.com or from @dhl-news.com, never from a free email service (DHL, September 2026).
- Pay only inside the carrier's or the store's own system, never on a page opened from a received link.
What each tracking status means is covered in the guide to tracking an international shipment in Brazil. How the invoice is issued, and which payment methods are accepted, is in paying your DHL invoice.
Which signs give the fake message away?
A handful of details repeat in almost every attempt:
- A free email service as sender, or a mobile number with a foreign prefix.
- A domain close to the real one, with a letter swapped or an extra suffix.
- CPF, date of birth and card number requested on the same screen.
- A personal Pix key as the destination for what is described as a federal tax.
- Urgency with a deadline, plus a promise to return the parcel abroad.
- A charge for a parcel the person never ordered.
What should you do if the customer already paid?
Move the same day, because the money travels fast. Four steps, in this order:
- Ask the bank for a refund through the Pix Special Return Mechanism (MED), created for fraud cases. The request has to be filed within 80 days of the transaction. Source: Banco Central, MED guide.
- File a police report with the civil police, which is Receita Federal's own instruction for attempted fraud or extortion.
- Forward the original message to phishing@dhl.com when it uses the DHL brand, without replying to the sender.
- Change any password typed into the fake page and watch the CPF over the following months.
Never pay the second charge. It is the first one continuing.
Why does the fraud spike at the end of the year?
Because parcel volume rises and attention drops. In November and December many people are waiting on several boxes at once, lose track of which store sent what, and treat any delivery notice as plausible. The criminal does not need to pick a target: a mass send and one coincidence with a real order is enough.
Then there is the hurry. Someone who bought a gift with a tight deadline will pay a small fee rather than risk the delivery, and that is exactly the calculation the fake page exploits, pairing a low amount with a countdown.
The defence works all year. Keep every tracking number in one place, always check through the carrier's own site, and treat any message carrying a payment link as advertising: do not click it.
What can a seller do to protect customers?
Quite a lot, and it costs nothing. Tell buyers at checkout exactly how duty will be charged on your lane: collected at checkout under Remessa Conforme, billed by the carrier, or prepaid by you under DDP. A customer who knows the answer in advance deletes the fake message instead of clicking it.
Put the carrier's tracking address in the order confirmation, spelled out, so nobody has to search for it. And keep the promise consistent across the invoice, the shipping notice and the support macro. How the Brazilian side of the process works, step by step, is in the guide to importing into Brazil.
Frequently asked questions about the import fee scam in Brazil
Open tracking by typing the address by hand and check whether an open charge exists inside the system of the company carrying the shipment. If the charge only exists in the message you received, it is a scam.
No. Duty owed on international parcels is never registered with SPC or Serasa, according to Receita Federal. A threat about a credit record over a parcel is a clear sign of fraud.
Almost certainly. On a certified Remessa Conforme platform, tax is collected at checkout, so nothing is due on arrival. Ask the customer to confirm inside the store's own site or app.
It is worth trying. Ask the bank for a refund through the Pix Special Return Mechanism within 80 days of the transaction, and file a police report. The earlier the request, the better the odds.
Sources
- Receita Federal: É Golpe? Postal and express shipments (in Portuguese)
- Receita Federal: Postal and express shipments: questions and answers (in Portuguese)
- Presidency of Brazil: Law 15.502 of 10 September 2026 (in Portuguese)
- Banco Central: Implementation guide for Pix special return procedures (MED, in Portuguese)
- DHL: Fraud awareness
- DHL: Conhecimento de fraude (Brazil, in Portuguese)
Shipping into Brazil on a regular basis?
Once Brazil becomes a regular destination, every shipment needs one place to check duty, invoice and tracking, instead of whatever arrives by message. With a business account, each shipment carries a number, its documents and its charge in the same system, so your team knows where to look before anyone pays anything.
To get started, open a DHL Express business account.
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