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- Claims that four Chinese companies are printing one million fake stamps a week
Thousands of fake stamps are entering Britain from China, leaving victims paying £5 penalties to collect their post.
Royal Mail was on Wednesday night urged to investigate what security experts called ‘economic warfare’, with forgeries from the Far East said to be behind the rise in complaints from customers that stamps bought from legitimate sources are being flagged as counterfeit.
It is understood that convincing copies, sold for as little as 4p each, are being purchased by smaller retailers, who are not obliged to buy directly from the Royal Mail and can instead buy them from wholesalers or online.
Websites seen by the Mail based in China offer sheets of 50 counterfeit stamps at a time, complete with Royal Mail’s new barcode – designed to make the post more secure and efficient – for those willing to commit to a minimum purchase of 20,000.
Last night, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said he would work with Royal Mail and retailers to investigate. He told the Mail: ‘It is key to prevent counterfeit stamps entering our supply chain in the UK.
Thousands of fake stamps are flooding Britain from China, with Royal Mail urged to investigate what has been termed ‘economic warfare’
‘The Royal Mail must do everything possible to prevent counterfeits entering our circulation and must establish where they are coming from and how they are entering our marketplace.’
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, called for a criminal inquiry, likening the scam to printing money.
Stamps are considered a ‘secure print item’ in the same way as bank notes – which means it is a crime to knowingly reuse or sell used or fake ones.
He said: ‘Criminal law is very clear about this and I don’t understand why the police are not cracking down. These people are counterfeiters.’
And Alan Mendoza, of the Henry Jackson Society national security think-tank, accused China of ‘robbing British businesses of revenue’.
He told the Telegraph: ‘It is inconceivable that a large-scale counterfeit operation like this could be occurring without the knowledge and therefore tacit approval of the Chinese Communist Party. It’s an obvious form of economic warfare.’
Stamps bought from the Post Office are not affected because it receives all of its stamps direct from the Royal Mail’s secure printers in Wolverhampton. They are transported to branches in secure vans or via tamper-proof envelopes.
It is claimed four major Chinese suppliers are printing up to one million counterfeit stamps a week and delivering them to Britain in days.
One large factory is only taking orders for more than 300,000, cutting the cost to 4p a fake.
They are then being sold through scam websites imitating the Royal Mail’s online store and via marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.
It is claimed four major Chinese suppliers are printing up to one million counterfeit stamps a week and delivering them to Britain in days. Pictured: Chinese president Xi Jinping
Both Amazon and eBay insisted last night that they strictly prohibit counterfeit items on their websites.
The news comes after Money Mail raised concerns about customers being hit with a £5 penalty to collect letters which had been sent with barcoded stamps that they said had been bought from legitimate sources such as the Post Office and supermarkets.
Royal Mail said they were fakes and the reasons behind this episode remain unclear.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: ‘We regularly monitor online marketplaces to detect suspicious activity, such as sales of heavily discounted stamps and work closely with retailers and law enforcement agencies to identify those who produce counterfeit stamps.’
