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As part of the scam, criminals are pretending to be the Royal Mail and telling innocent individuals that there is a parcel waiting for them which they must pick up. However, the text asks those who receive it to pay a settlement fee of £2.99 to avoid their package being sent back.
The bank is reminding its customers to look out for such scams as anyone with a mobile phone could be a target.
In the text, the scammer says: “Royal Mail: Your parcel is awaiting delivery. Please pay the £2.99 settlement fee to avoid your parcel being returned to sender.”
The scam text also includes a link which sends those who receive it to a fake Royal Mail page that asks for their personal information and banking details.
Lloyds is warning people that, while the text may look real, it is a convincing scam which is tricking individuals into giving away their personal information.
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It is not Royal Mail policy to charge people a settlement fee if they are waiting to pick up a parcel.
The bank is asking its customers to not reply to the text if they get it or click on the attached link. Instead, Lloyds is telling people to delete the text as soon as they get it.
If any Lloyds customers are targeted through this particular text scam, they are encouraged to forward the message free of charge to 7726.
Alternatively, if the bank’s customers receive a similar scam via email, they can forward that to emailscams@lloydsbanking.com.
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On its website, Lloyds Bank shared important advice to its customers: “Keep your money and details safe. Never move money, make a payment or give personal or banking details for a message that comes out of the blue.
“Click with care. Only click on a link or download an attachment if you’re sure it’s genuine.
“Look at the spelling and layout – If it has mistakes or looks odd in any way, don’t reply and delete.
“Take your time. A scam may use warnings or threats to try to get you to act without thinking.
“Double-check before you pay. Confirm payment details before you pay an invoice or bill.”
In a statement, Royal Mail said: “We remind our customers that Royal Mail will only send email and SMS notifications in cases where the sender has requested this when using our trackable products that offer this service.
“In cases where customers need to pay a surcharge for an underpaid item, we would let them know by leaving a grey Fee To Pay card. We would not request payment by email or text.
“The only time we would ask customers to make a payment by email or by text is in some instances where a customs fee is due.
“In such cases, we would also leave a grey card telling customers that there’s a Fee to Pay before we can release the item.
“Royal Mail works hard to prevent and detect fraud. We work with UK law enforcement agencies, Trading Standards and other organisations to share information and support robust proactive action against scams.
“We report any offending sites and suspicious numbers to the appropriate authorities as soon as we are made aware of them.”
Anyone concerned about receiving similar text scams should contact Action Fraud to inform them of the situation.
