Mother’s Day Scams Are Surging — Here’s How They Target Moms Before May 10

May 1, 2026 · 5 min read

Mother’s Day is nine days away. Americans will spend an estimated $34 billion on flowers, brunch, jewelry, and gifts — making it the third-biggest gift-giving holiday of the year, behind only Christmas and Valentine’s Day.

Scammers know this. And they know something else: in the week before Mother’s Day, almost every American adult is genuinely expecting a delivery, a card, or a confirmation email. That’s the perfect cover for a phishing text.

The same “your package couldn’t be delivered” text that looks obviously fake in February looks completely normal on May 8. Here are the five scams that spike every year around Mother’s Day — and how to keep your mom (and yourself) off the list.

1. The fake flower delivery text

This is the king of seasonal scams. You get a text claiming a flower delivery — often invoking FedEx, UPS, USPS, or a real-sounding florist like 1-800-Flowers or ProFlowers — couldn’t be completed. The text includes a link to “reschedule” or pay a $1.99 “redelivery fee.”

The link goes to a page that looks identical to the real carrier’s site. It asks for your credit card to cover the small fee. Once you enter the number, the scammers run it through stolen-card test transactions or sell it on a fraud forum within hours.

The Federal Trade Commission tracked over 330,000 reports of package delivery scams in the year ending in 2025, with a sharp seasonal spike in the two weeks before Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas. The scam works because of three details:

• The fee is small enough to feel harmless ($1.99, $2.99) so you don’t hesitate
• The branding (logos, colors, fonts) is pixel-perfect
• You really are expecting a delivery, so the text matches reality

How to spot it: No legitimate carrier asks for a redelivery fee by text. Real carriers leave a notice at your door with a tracking number, and you reschedule on their actual website. If you’re unsure, open a new browser tab, type the carrier’s URL directly, and look up your tracking number from the confirmation email you got when the gift was sent.

2. “Brunch reservation confirmation” phishing

Mother’s Day brunch is one of the most-booked restaurant days of the year. Scammers send fake reservation confirmations — either through email or text — that demand a “deposit” or “cancellation fee” via gift card, Zelle, or a sketchy payment link.

A common variant: someone calls a restaurant, gets the reservation list, and texts the people on it claiming a problem with their booking and asking for a $25 hold via gift card. People who genuinely have a reservation that day are far more likely to fall for it.

How to spot it: No real restaurant takes deposits via gift card. Hang up, look up the restaurant’s number from a search engine (not the text), and call them directly to confirm.

3. The “Mom won a free gift” social media scam

This one floods Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok in early May. A post or message claims your mom won a Mother’s Day giveaway from a major brand — Pandora, Le Creuset, Yeti, Bath & Body Works are recurring favorites — and just needs to pay $4.99 shipping.

The shipping page captures her credit card. The card then gets enrolled in a recurring “membership” or used for a high-value fraud transaction within 48 hours.

A close cousin: fake brand pages running “giveaways” that ask for personal information — address, phone, date of birth — to “ship the prize.” The data feeds identity theft pipelines.

How to spot it: Real brands don’t ask for shipping fees on giveaway prizes. They also run promotions on verified accounts (the blue checkmark) with substantial follower counts. If the page has 412 followers and posted its first photo last week, it’s a scam.

4. The AI-cloned “Mom, I need help” voicemail

The grandparent scam has a Mother’s Day variant that’s especially cruel: a panicked voicemail from someone who sounds exactly like your adult child, claiming they’ve been arrested, hurt, or stranded right before they were supposed to come home for Mother’s Day.

The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report flagged AI voice cloning as one of the fastest-growing fraud vectors. Scammers can clone a convincing voice from just a few seconds of audio — pulled from a social media video, a podcast appearance, or even a previous voicemail. They call your mom, sound exactly like you, and push her to wire money or buy gift cards before the “police arrive.”

The week before Mother’s Day is high-emotion, high-anticipation. Scammers exploit that.

How to stop it: Set up a family code word. Pick a word or phrase — nothing guessable from social media — that any real family member in trouble would know. If a panicked “child” calls and can’t produce the code word, hang up. We covered this in detail in our FBI 2025 crypto scam report breakdown.

5. The Mother’s Day charity scam

Fake charities pop up every May claiming to support “moms in need,” “widowed mothers,” or “moms with cancer.” Some are clones of real charity names with one letter changed. Others are entirely fabricated — a slick landing page, a heart-tugging story, and a payment form.

The FTC has warned for years that charity fraud spikes around emotionally loaded holidays. Mother’s Day is a top trigger because the appeal is so easy: this Mother’s Day, give in honor of a mom who can’t celebrate.

How to spot it: Before donating, look up the charity at Charity Navigator or BBB Wise Giving Alliance. If they don’t show up, or if the charity insists on payment by gift card or wire transfer, it’s fake. Real charities accept normal credit cards and provide tax-deductible receipts.

The simple test for any Mother’s Day message

Most Mother’s Day scams share three traits. If you see any two of them, treat the message as fake until proven otherwise:

• Urgency. “Reschedule in the next 24 hours.” “Limited time offer.” “Pay the deposit before noon to keep your reservation.” Real businesses don’t move at this pace.
• An unusual payment method. Gift cards, wire transfers, Zelle to a stranger, “cryptocurrency for security.” Anything other than a normal credit card on a real website is a red flag.
• A small first ask. $1.99, $4.99, $9.99. The cost is psychologically negligible, which is exactly why it works — you stop checking once it feels too small to matter.

Not sure if a text or email is real? Paste it into our free scam checker — you’ll get an instant analysis with the specific red flags called out.

The gift that actually protects her

If you’re shopping for your mom this week, consider that the most valuable Mother’s Day gift you can give her isn’t flowers — it’s the peace of mind of knowing the next suspicious text won’t catch her off guard. Antigrift screens her texts, emails, and voicemails for scam patterns and sends you a daily summary of anything we caught. It takes two minutes to set up, works on any phone, and is in active use by families across the country.

Read more in our guides on how to protect your parents from scams and the best tools to protect seniors from scammers.