Royal Mail launches app which lets customers detect fake stamps after row over £5 fines given to recipients of letters carrying alleged counterfeit postage

Royal Mail has launched a new stamp scanner on its mobile app that allows customers to check for themselves if a stamp is genuine or not.

The postal service has stepped up its fight against rising stamp fraud and has promised to extend its pause on £5 fines for those who use a fake stamp.

From today, customers can use the Royal Mail smartphone app to scan a barcoded stamp before they post it to confirm that it is not a known counterfeit.

If the stamps were not bought from Royal Mail, the Post Office or another reputable High Street shop, then customers should scan them before use, according to the postal service.

Royal Mail has previously charged recipients £5 to collect post sent with stamps that it deemed counterfeit but this was paused in April following pressure from this newspaper.

The postal service has stepped up its fight against rising stamp fraud and has promised to extend its pause on £5 fines for those who use a fake stamp

Royal Mail has faced heavy criticism after its move to use barcoded stamps only led to a surge in the number of customers receiving a £5 penalty, with claims the stamps were fakes

The postal service today confirmed that it would extend this suspension and vowed to charge the sender instead of the recipient for using a fake stamp where possible.

Letters and cards which are sent with a counterfeit stamp will still be marked with a yellow sticker.

Royal Mail has faced heavy criticism after its move to use barcoded stamps only led to a surge in the number of customers receiving a £5 penalty, with claims the stamps were fakes.

Earlier this year the Mail warned that fake stamps were entering Britain from China on an ‘industrial scale’.

The investigation led to a crackdown by UK Border Force, which said it would seize goods and work with police to stop criminals smuggling stamps into the UK.

Royal Mail said that since it introduced barcoded stamps in February 2022 the number of counterfeits in its network has fallen by around 90 per cent.

Nick Landon, chief commercial officer at Royal Mail, said: ‘We continue to do all we can to protect our customers from the scourge of counterfeit stamps.

‘The new counterfeit stamp scanner on the Royal Mail app will help prevent customers inadvertently falling victim to stamp fraud.’