Royal Mail urges people to be ‘vigilant’ over authentic text scam

SCAM WARNING: Royal Mail has released a statement warning people of the dangers of the authentic looking scam (Photo by Rui Vieira/PA Wire)

Reporting by Katie Elliott

Royal Mail has warned customers to “be vigilant” after a spike in scam texts.

The scam is set up so the fraudulent messages resemble legitimate communications from Royal Mail and some people have been reporting how they were targeted. The warning comes as the postage giant is also experiencing “severe disruption” to its international export services following a cyber attack last week.

Twitter users have now been sharing their “believable” scam text experiences. One user tweeted about a suspected fraudulent website offering Royal Mail stamps “at half price” that appeared on their Facebook feed. The texts typically state that there is a package that needs to be rescheduled and asks the recipient to press a ‘bit.ly’ link, as reported by The Express.

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In a statement on its website, the Royal Mail said: “These are some typical examples of scams that look like they’re sent by Royal Mail, but are in fact fraud or phishing scams. Please don’t click on any of the links in these emails and be vigilant if you receive a communication which you aren’t sure about.”

The link then takes them to a scam site asking for payment. Tweeting a picture of the text message in question, Twitter user @icarfaem said: “This feels like a scam…but it sure looked believable for a moment.” Royal Mail added that you should not “click on any links or enter any details.”

Regarding the cyber breach it faced recently, in a statement updated on January 17, Royal Mail said: “Royal Mail is continuing to experience severe service disruption to our international export services following a cyber incident. We are temporarily unable to despatch items to overseas destinations.”

“In order to prevent a build-up of export items in our network and support a faster recovery when we restore service, Royal Mail is continuing to ask customers not to post international export items until further notice.” Royal Mail said items that have already been despatched may be subject to delays, and “sincerely” apologises to impacted customers for “any disruption” the incident may be causing.

However, it noted: “Our import operations continue to perform a full service, with some minor delays.”

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