The Splosh UK Forum

The following is taken from an E-mail shown to me by a colleague today.

Royal Mail postal scam.

Can you circulate this around especially as Xmas is fast approaching - it has been confirmed by Royal Mail.

The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk

If you already now about this scam sorry to drag you here.

cheers bulber, will keep an eye out.

regards

Andy

This message is a hoax, and should not be forwarded on. See http://www.sophos.com/security/hoaxes/parcel_delivery.html.

Argh, who's right and who's wrong!?!

i get packages quite regularly, so this be worrying. I do know however that if im not in, the card will be from Royal Mail, and i never phone, i just wait the 24 hours and go collect it direct.

Safe as houses , yerrrr.

"Called but you were out" cards have more on them than just a message and a 'phone number, there will be the company logo, a selection of options for the courier to tick (including "left it with your neighbour at ____") and the address of the depot dealing with the delivery. A card with none of these things would have to attract suspicion.
If in doubt, try googling the name of the alledged parcel delivery company. If you cannot find any record of "Happy Friendly Parcel Delivery inc." online, smell a rat.

As the sophos article says, tarifs that cost you £15 for just connecting don't exist, but you could be charged that sum if you allow a premium rate line to lead you a merry dance for ten minutes before you realise you've been had.

The above email is a hoax - there are NO phone numbers that could cost you £15 just to place a call. It is however, based on a similar event which was nipped in the bud last year.

Basically, numbers that begin 09 cost you non-standard rates to call (up to £1.50 a minute) - be aware!!

It's not too hard to spot hoax emails like this. They usually:

1. Claims to have an important warning.
2. Cite a well-known authority (in this case The Trading Standards Office).
3. Urge you to forward it on to everyone in your contact list.

If you suspect a hoax, you can easily check with Google. Find a key phrase and include the word hoax. To find the above link, I googled for "Royal Mail postal scam" hoax. Voila!

If you receive one, politely reply to the sender (only), informing them and passing on a link. They aren't likely to do it again. But everybody does it once! Mine was in 1995 I think...

My most profound apologies to all and sundry.
I'm only now seeing the replies to my post.
All I can say in my defence is this E-mail was sent to us (at work) by a much respected and valued client.

I throw myself upon the mercy of the mods and administrator.

Once again I do apologise for any upset or inconvenience caused by my original post.

No problem at all. As I said, everyone does it once. Obviously the person who sent it to you thought it was real too. Might pay to inform them, if it's not too awkward. I know what client politics can be like.