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Hundreds of people are being targeted by a cruel text scam which could end up costing thousands.
Heartless fraudsters are sending out messages pretending to be Royal Mail, telling people their parcel has an unpaid shipping fee and they must pay the costs to receive the item.
The message, which comes from a normal phone number, contains a link and asks the recipient to click it to sort the problem, otherwise they will not receive the item and it will be returned to the sender.
One message which was sent out to a Plymouth woman, reads: “RoyalMail: Your item has a £1.74 unpaid shipping fee, to pay this now visit [scam website]. Your item will return to sender if unpaid.”
Legitimate text messages from Royal Mail will have the contact name RoyalMail and not an unsaved phone number.
The woman, who lives in Plympton, said she had almost been caught out by the scam because she had ordered a package the day before.
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“Thankfully a few days before I had received a parcel from them and had a text update on delivery in my message history,” she said.
“On that message history was a thread of all other updates I had received from Royal Mail so I knew that this was a scam.
“It also came from a normal phone number, so I reported it.”
One Birmingham graduate lost her entire savings to the scam, reports Birmingham Live, after clicking the link and putting in her details on the website.
Emmeline Hartley, a 28-year-old actor, said the scam had wiped her account clean.
“I mentioned yesterday that I’d been scammed out of every penny I had,” the tweet reads. “Thought I’d post what happened in case it helps anyone avoid being in the same position.
“Please save the lectures, I don’t think it’s possible for me to feel any stupider.”
Emmeline explained that she received a text asking to pay a £2.99 additional postage fee and checked the website as she thought it was “legit”.
She was expecting parcels for her birthday, so put the details in and later got a call from someone pretending to be from her bank, claiming transactions had been attempted and wanted to stop her from losing her money.
“I got a phone call from Barclays to say that someone had tried to set up direct debits in my account to Vodafone and Curries/PC World,” she said.
“They said a transaction of £300 had also been attempted to Argos. They took me through security before cancelling my cards and issuing new ones, saying they’d take 3-5 days to arrive.
“They then added that, because I’d also given away my sort code and account number along with my address and other details, it put my online banking at risk, meaning they could access all my Barclays accounts including my business account and ISA.
“They therefore needed to generate a new sort code and account number, which they did and gave to me over the phone.”
She was then advised to move her money out of her three accounts into a new one. But the person on the other end of the phone was another highly experienced scammer who left her penniless.
“It was down to circumstances, I was panicked and angry at falling for the Royal Mail scam and I have always trusted Barclays,” she said.
“This guy was plausible, professional and understanding and I just fell for it.”
A spokesperson for Barclays said: “No genuine bank would message you to transfer money to a ‘safe account’ – we advise any customers to ignore anyone who asks to do this, whether it’s by phone, email or any other method.”
How to spot a scam and what to do if you receive suspicious correspondence
Royal Mail and Action Fraud have both worked together to issue warnings to Brits who could fall victim to the scam, which is a text message.
The Royal Mail website states that similar to telephone, email and online scams, there are also scams that can be sent via the post as well.
Royal Mail urges anyone who believes they may be victim to a scam to avoid clicking any links in communication you’re not sure about.
It has listed common scams on its website here and anyone who receives suspicious correspondence is urged to complete this online form.
If you have fallen victim to a scam, you can report it to your local police station and get a crime reference number. You should also report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 204.
