During its busiest week of the year, Royal Mail is reminding customers to remain vigilant of potential scams as fraudsters look for opportunities to steal money and valuable information from people expecting a delivery.
Royal Mail has a dedicated section on its website that provides customers with more information on how to spot a scam – with real examples of the scammers’ text messages, emails and delivery cards.
There are also some helpful tips on how to determine if an email, text message or phone call is from Royal Mail, and how to report anything suspicious. https://www.royalmail.com/help/scam-protection
Royal Mail advises customers to:
- Never send sensitive, personal information, security details or credit card numbers by email or text.
- Never click on a link in an email if you are unsure about it, especially if it asks for personal financial information like your bank details.
- Hover over a link before you click on it to check if the website URL looks familiar or trustworthy.
- Make sure you have a spam filter on your email account.
Customers should also check if the spelling, grammar, graphic design or image is poor quality.
Fraudsters may even use the Royal Mail logo, but this does not guarantee the email has come from the company.
Some customers may also be tempted by the offer of cheap stamps for sending their Christmas cards this year. Royal Mail recommends always purchasing stamps from trusted retailers but for those unsure of whether a stamp they have is counterfeit or not, they can check using Royal Mail’s counterfeit stamp scanner for extra reassurance.
Customers who download the Royal Mail app can use the scanner to check whether a stamp is a known counterfeit, preventing them from inadvertently becoming victims of fraud.
Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer, Royal Mail, said: “We urge our customers to remain vigilant for scams during the festive season. Unfortunately, fraudsters are only too willing to take advantage of people who are busy planning for the big day and who may not be as focussed on things as they otherwise might be.
“Our customers should visit our website for tips on how to stay safe and recognise genuine communications from Royal Mail.”
(Royal Mail)
