Scammers are cashing in on the gift giving season.

Australia Post is warning the community of widespread scam text messages telling customers your parcel has been 'detained', 'delivery missed' or 'an important update'. 

Richmond District Police said “the only thing delivered is malware or link to a phishing site”.

 “By entering these details, the scammer can steal your personal and financial information,” police warned.

“You should delete the message.”

Richmond Tweed Library Regional assistant Brodie Elliott knows about scammers.

He gave some talks at the library this year, teaching people how to recognise a message or an email from a scammer

“Don't let scammers steal your money and/or identity - keep a couple of steps ahead of them,” he said.

“Some of the scams are finely created and hard to tell apart from a real message from someone.

“For someone not used to using email or the internet, I want to tell them ‘think before you act’ if you receive a text message or email to contact the tax office or Australia Post.

“On an Australian Government website, people have been scammed and lost money to scammers.

“I want to teach people to question what they are seeing.

“I show them ways to work out if it’s a scam by looking at the language used and other key factors.

“For example, if there’s an email from a bank saying ‘Dear customer, click on this link or you’ll be locked out of your account’, but they don’t use your name or member number, or there’s a sense of urgency about it – it’s probably fake.”

Brodie said that as the internet and doing things online have evolved, scammers have also moved with it.

“There’s a new scam where there’s a phone call from the Ukraine, but when you answer and say ‘hello’ - it cuts out,” he said.

“When you recall the number, it charges your phone bill at a premium rate and they get the money off you from your bill.”