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ROYAL MAIL is being urged to investigate its systems after an investigation found some stamps are being deemed “counterfeit” by Royal Mail, while other stamps from the same book are not.
Royal Mail yesterday told ministers it would investigate problems with new barcoded stamps to try and “ascertain the source of the problem” amid fears customers are wrongly being fined to get letters.
A GB News investigation has found innocent people across the UK continue to be charged £5 for “counterfeit” stamps, which they insist were bought at reputable shops and Post Offices.
Since GB News first exposed the issue in January 2024, more readers have contacted us reporting similar problems.
Lorraine Hewitt, 66, was charged £5 for her birthday card due to a “counterfeit” stamp in February, but two other stamps from the same book have arrived at their destination as expected.
The sender says they bought the book of stamps from a well-known supermarket.
Ms Hewitt, from the West Midlands, had assumed she had been sent a parcel when she found a £5 “fee to pay” note from Royal Mail in her letterbox.
She had received all the birthday cards she had anticipated she may get, and, ahead of a birthday dinner with her brother that evening, she took the note to the delivery office.
She said: “I thought, ‘Oh as he’s coming tonight, if he’s got a card, he’ll bring it with him.’
“Because he was taking me out for a meal, I assumed that that was my birthday gift as it were.”
The member of staff showed her the envelope but, not recognising the writing, she decided not to pay the fee.
However, before she left the delivery office, she took a photo of the envelope, which had a yellow sticker branding the stamp “counterfeit” attached.
During the birthday outing, it emerged the card had been from her brother, and it contained a £5 note.
Having bought the book of eight stamps from a reputable supermarket, he decided to send a test letter using another of the stamps.
It arrived without a hitch.
Ms Hewitt’s brother has also since sent his niece some mail using another stamp from the book. Again, the letter arrived as expected.
“It makes you question what criteria they are actually using to determine if something is fraudulent,” the 66-year-old told GB News.
Ms Hewitt, who used to work in Royal Mail’s Returned Letters Branch (RLB), believes because the letter contained cash, it would need to be logged.
“You have to make a note of the item and make a note of the money and store the money or the goods that would be in there,” she said.
Ms Hewitt complained to Royal Mail about the matter and has sent photos of the book of stamps as well as the “counterfeit” label.
She was told that “specialised machines at all our mail centres examined stamps to check if they are genuine or not”.
The email continued: “If a stamp or stamps are deemed not genuine a surcharge is applied and the recipient is asked to pay the fee.
“This gives the recipient the opportunity to receive the item as quickly as possible.”
Ms Hewitt escalated the complaint to the Postal Review Panel, who requested she send the envelope which was surcharged or the stamps being called counterfeit to their Freepost address.
However, Ms Hewitt pointed out she does not have the envelope, as it’s with Royal Mail.
She was later told that while they “appreciate” she forwarded photos of the item and stamps, they “cannot identify if a stamp is counterfeit or not with photographs”.
Ms Hewitt said: “They’ve got the item, they’ve got the stamp, they’ve actually got the fiver.
“All they need to do is find this item in the Returned Letters Branch, find what they’ve done with the fiver, and have a look whether someone’s made a human error with regard to deciding if the stamp was counterfeit, as the other stamps have proved not to be.”
