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Royal Mail scams are often very hard to spot as they can look legitimate, however there are key signs to look out for when detecting one. The latest scam includes texts and emails purporting to be Royal Mail notifying customers that they must pay a delivery fee in order to receive their parcel.
Royal Mail urges customers not to click on the link as its takes you to a fake site.
Taking to Twitter to share their concerns, one customer asked Royal Mail whether or not the message they received was real or fake.
It read: “Just received this message. Is it a scam? Not expecting anything and I have been home all day.
“Royal Mail: ‘Sorry we missed you earlier, we have your parcel, to book a redelivery follow the link’.”
How can customers spot a scam?
Royal Mail said: “Check at the top. Fraudsters often use subjects or greetings that are impersonal and general, like ‘Attention Royal Mail Customer’. They may use a forged email address in the ‘from’ field like ‘delivery@royalmail.com’.
“They may even use the Royal Mail logo. None of this guarantees the email has come from us.”
Typical scams will often state there’s a parcel waiting to be collected, ask for payment before an item can be released for delivery, prompting customers to open a link or document or asks you to send a text message or call a phone call premium rate phone number.
The company asks customers to protect their information by never sending sensitive, personal information, security details or credit card numbers by email or clicking on a link in an email you are unsure about.
Tips to avoid being caught in a scam involve turning on the spam filter on your email account.
Royal Mail said: “If you receive a suspicious email or discover a Royal Mail branded website which you think is fraudulent, please let us know by completing our online form.
“If you have been the victim of a payment scam, you can get a crime reference number by reporting it to your local Police station.”
