Tariff-refund scams are surging. Here’s how to tell what’s real.
- Real refunds come from the carrier you already paid or from CBP — never from a text message. The FTC warns that messages about a “refund” with a link to “verify your information” are a known scam pattern (FTC consumer alert).
- No legitimate refund asks for a fee, gift cards, your SSN, or bank login to “release” money. CBP states it never requests sensitive data by email, text, or phone. Browse current schemes at the FTC’s official scam tracker (consumer.ftc.gov).
- Verify duties and refunds only on official channels — customs facts at CBP.gov and government payments only through Pay.gov — never a payment link someone sent you.
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On June 24, 2026, CBP published the interim final rule that permanently ends duty-free treatment for international mail — and it takes effect July 24, 2026. Two things change at once. First, the $800 de minimis exemption, already suspended since 2025, is now formally codified as gone for the postal network. Second, and far less understood: CBP is scrapping the old system where officers prepared entry paperwork and the letter carrier collected duty at your door. In its place is a new 'postal informal entry' process for mail shipments worth $2,500 or less — and the responsibility for filing and paying moves to a designated filer, which the rule limits to the owner, the purchaser, or a licensed customs broker. If you ordered the package and no broker is involved, that can be you. Here's what actually changes, who has to do what, and the traps to avoid — including a scam wave that is already exploiting the confusion.
What Changes on July 24, 2026
Two Federal Register rules published June 24, 2026 take effect a month later:
1. De minimis is codified as gone. The $800 duty-free exemption for low-value imports — suspended by executive action for China/Hong Kong in May 2025 and worldwide in August 2025 — is now formally written out of the regulations for the international postal network. This is no longer a temporary suspension that might snap back. It is the permanent rulebook.
2. A new 'postal informal entry' process begins for mail shipments valued at $2,500 or less (covering goods in HTS chapters 1–97 — which is essentially everything). The old workflow — a CBP officer manually preparing an entry form, and USPS collecting the duty when the carrier hands you the package — is being retired.
Under the new process, duties are not collected on delivery. Instead, a designated filer must report the shipments and pay the duty afterward.
Who Is the 'Designated Filer'? (This Is the Part Nobody Expects)
The rule limits who can file the new postal informal entry to three parties:
- The owner of the merchandise
- The purchaser (the person who ordered it)
- A licensed customs broker acting on their behalf
The filing itself is unlike anything consumers have seen: the designated filer must transmit a monthly spreadsheet to CBP detailing every mail shipment received — including the 10-digit HTS tariff classification for each item — and pay the duties owed through Pay.gov by the 7th day of the following month.
Read that again from a consumer's perspective: if you regularly order goods from overseas by mail and no broker is in the chain, the government's new expectation is that *you* classify your own packages to the 10-digit level, report them monthly, and remit duty through Pay.gov. That is a customs-compliance obligation landing on ordinary people and small resellers who have never heard the words 'informal entry.'
For a one-time gift from family abroad, enforcement realities will take time to shake out. For anyone importing repeatedly — hobbyists, collectors, and especially anyone reselling imported goods — this is now a monthly compliance task with a federal deadline.
What This Means in Practice
If you occasionally buy from big platforms (Temu, Shein, AliExpress, Amazon sellers): mostly nothing changes at your door — the large platforms shifted to collecting duties at checkout (delivered-duty-paid) during 2025. The seller's logistics chain handles entry through commercial carriers, not the postal network.
If you buy from small foreign sellers, Etsy-style shops, or individuals who ship by post: this rule is about you. Those packages move through USPS, and after July 24 there is no duty collection at the door — the obligation lands on the designated filer.
If you resell imported goods — eBay, Amazon FBA, Etsy, Poshmark side businesses that source inventory by mail: you are the owner/purchaser of commercial merchandise. The monthly spreadsheet + Pay.gov process is your obligation, or a licensed broker's if you hire one. Two silver linings: (1) properly tracked import duties are a deductible business cost (COGS), and (2) getting this right is exactly the kind of thing a bookkeeper handles as part of monthly close — if you're already at the volume where a customs bill shows up monthly, you're at the volume where your imports belong in real books.
If a package arrives with duty unpaid before the new system stabilizes: expect friction — held mail, notices, and slower delivery are all likely during the transition. CBP itself accepted public comments only through the same July 24 effective date, a sign this rollout is moving fast.
The Scam Wave Riding This Rule
Every confusing customs change spawns a scam wave, and this one is tailor-made for it: millions of people will genuinely owe small duty amounts through an unfamiliar government process for the first time.
Expect texts and emails that look like: *"USPS: your package has unpaid customs duty. Pay here to avoid return."* Some will arrive the same week as a real package.
The rules that keep you safe:
- The only legitimate payment channel under the new process is Pay.gov — a site you navigate to yourself, never a link from a text or email.
- USPS does not text you payment links for customs duty. Neither does CBP. The FTC's standing alert on refund/payment texts applies precisely: unexpected message + payment link = scam.
- CBP never asks for your SSN, bank login, or a 'release fee' by phone, text, or email.
- When in doubt, look the process up on CBP.gov or the Federal Register directly — not through any link someone sent you.
What to Do Now
- Inventory your mail imports. If you receive international packages by post more than occasionally, list what you bought over the past few months and roughly what duty rates apply — the personal import duty calculator on this site gives a fast estimate.
- If you resell: get your imports into your books now. Duty is deductible, the monthly filing needs records anyway, and doing it right from the start is far cheaper than reconstructing a year of PayPal receipts next April. This is the moment to set up real bookkeeping if imports are part of your business.
- Decide self-file vs. broker. For small recurring volumes, a licensed broker (or a firm that coordinates one) turns the monthly spreadsheet-and-Pay.gov chore into a handled service. For a genuine one-off, the practical risk of waiting for CBP's process to mature is lower — but keep every receipt.
- Watch for the paper trail, ignore the text messages. Real obligations under this rule come with real documentation. Payment demands that arrive by SMS are fraud, full stop.
- Bookmark the official sources: the Federal Register rule (2026-12669), CBP.gov's trade pages, and Pay.gov. Everything else is commentary — or bait.
Key Takeaway
July 24, 2026 is the day casual international mail becomes a regulated import channel with a named responsible party — and for repeat importers and reseller side-businesses, a monthly federal filing. The mechanics (10-digit classification, monthly spreadsheet, Pay.gov by the 7th) are genuinely unusual to put on consumers, and the confusion will be exploited by scammers before it is solved by software. Track your imports, treat unexpected payment links as fraud, and if importing is part of a business you run — put it in real books now, because the duty you're about to pay monthly is also a deduction you're currently not tracking.
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