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Martin Lewis has has spotted a scam text purporting to be from the Post Office and issued an urgent warning to mobile user to be on the watch for what is seemingly a widespread scam. Kent Live reports, as the cost of living crisis deepens, many are relying on experts like Martin Lewis for reliable advice and to help them save money.
And his most recent advice will stop you being scammed out of thousands by crooks using a text message to clean people out of their savings. Writing on Twitter, Martin said: “Beware. Just had a clever version of the ‘pay £1.99 for Post Office Parcel delivery’ scam text, aiming to steal bank info.”
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The tweet continues: “The ‘fee’ isn’t mentioned in the text, it talks about ‘delays in transit’ and offers ‘a date to reschedule’. It’s only when you click thru it mentions a fee.” The Money Saving Expert warns that the scam has also “morphed and is now less obvious”. Many of Martin’s followers confirmed they’d received the scam text. One said: “I had one of those the other day, I asked for photographic proof of a parcel with my name and address or I would forward their number to the police… funny still haven’t had a reply.”
Another tweet: “Not just the Post office – it’s also Evri and DPD – had the identical text from both of them. A third person replied: “Post Office will never send a text. Also, Post Office do not deliver mail, that is Royal Mail. It’s always a scam.”
The Evening Standard reports that it’s understood a victim who submitted their details after following the scam link in the text has lost £80,000 after fraudsters were able to access their bank account. CTSI lead officer Katherine Hart said: “This Post Office scam is far more insidious than a similar scam which involved Royal Mail. While the Royal Mail scam explicitly asks for a payment to reorganise a delivery, at no point does this happen in this Post Office version making the communication less suspect and potentially more likely to be successful.
She continued: “Scammers could use the information to gain access to bank accounts and other important personal accounts. With the pandemic leading to a significant rise in online shopping and deliveries, it is vital that the message about the potential dangers of these scams are shared as far and as wide as possible, especially during this Scams Awareness Fortnight.”
