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A Leeds woman has issued a warning over another Royal Mail parcel scam, in which criminals pose as the Royal Mail in an attempt to steal personal and financial details.
After receiving the fraudulent message herself, Judith took to a Wetherby community Facebook page to urge residents to “beware” of the scam text message.
She wrote: “I received a text from the Royal Mail saying there was a parcel awaiting delivery but [I owed] £2.99 and they gave me a link to log into!
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“I thought to myself … ‘How does the Royal Mail know my mobile [number]?’ Always in the past if I needed to pay a surcharge I got a card through my letterbox to collect at the depot.”
Noting that she found it “strange”, she continued: “I decided to check at Wetherby Depot [and it’s] a scam!!
“Can you believe it? The lady at the depot said they had several people coming in with this query.”
She concluded her post by warning others to “beware”.
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Her warning comes as The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) said it has received evidence of a scam text, which states a parcel is awaiting delivery but a “settlement” must first be paid.
Also included within the message is a link to a fraudulent website that poses as a Royal Mail page and asks for personal and payment details – which, no doubt, could then be used by scammers for further fraud.
Her post received more than 40 replies with many others noting they had also received the phony text message.
She said: “I just wanted to warn others …. especially oldies like me that are so vulnerable.
“Fortunately my son instilled in me never to respond to anything without checking thoroughly!”
It follows a similar scam, which took place over email, and was flagged by Royal Mail last month.
