The Parcel Delivery Service Scam, Coming Through A Letterbox Near You
A NEW scam is highlighted by reader Ernie Chivers, as we receive a letter from a Fire Officer at HMPS:
Postal Scam
Can you circulate this around - especially as Christmas 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 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
regards
**** *******
Fire Safety Officer
HMYOI ********
Of course, the other scam is when the parcel deliverer knocks very quietly on your door, slips a note through the letterbox and legs it. You then have to go to fetch the post, which might not be there.
Posted: 24th, November 2009 | In: Money Comments (4) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink
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December 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 pm
There probably was a premium rate number to call, but it is impossible to be charged £15 instantly.
Going back to that “PDS warning”, there is a general rule of thumb that if you receive an email starting something like “urgent, please pass this on to everyone”, then it’s 99% certain that it’s a chain email. Don’t be fooled if it comes from what should be a trusted source such as the police or a newspaper. They are just as guilty of passing on these “warning” without doing a bit of basic research. When I receive one of these emails my first port of call is either the Hoax Slayer or Snopes websites to see if it is a hoax email.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:13 pm
I have deleted the message I sent but pretty sure the card I got was from a company called DMX Freight - it cerainly provided a premium rate number to call
December 1st, 2009 at 9:13 pm
A STATEMENT FROM PHONEPAYPLUS ABOUT THE CURRENT
‘POSTAL SCAM’ CHAIN EMAIL
PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, is aware that a chain e-mail about an alleged
postal scam is being circulated on the internet. The email refers to the Royal Mail, Trading
Standards and ICSTIS (PhonepayPlus’ former name).
PhonepayPlus appreciates that recipients of the email may want to find out more information
about the alleged scam and has therefore issued the following statement:
•
The chain email refers to a service that was shut down by us in December 2005.
•
We subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom
(based in Belize), £10,000.
•
The service is NO LONGER running and has NOT been running since December 2005.
•
The email refers to a £15 charge for simply being connected to a recorded message.
This is NOT TRUE – a £15 connection charge does NOT exist. The service in question
actually cost £1.50 per minute and lasted six minutes, making a total cost of £9 if callers
stayed on the line for the full six minutes.
•
You do NOT need to contact us, or the Royal Mail, about this service as it was stopped
almost two years ago.
•
If you receive a copy of the email warning you about the alleged scam, please do NOT
forward it to others. Instead, please forward this statement from PhonepayPlus.
•
Please go to http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/pdfs_news/ConsumerGuide.pdf for useful
information about how to recognise phone-paid services and understand what they cost,
and some simple tips to help you enjoy using services with confidence.
•
For more detailed information about our work, please visit http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk.
November 24th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
I did get one of these cards through my door and thought it did look suspicious.
It is clever because anyone would want to respond even if like me, no delivery
was expected.
Fortunately an email address was also detailed and I contacted that but as you
would expect, heard nothing further.