Significant drop
Royal Mail has seen a rapid decline in the amount of scam mail reaching our customers from overseas.
During the past year, the amount of scam mail blocked from entering the UK has dropped from more than 200,000 items a month to just 30,000 items a month.
Scam mail can take the form of fake lotteries and prize draws, get-rich-quick schemes, bogus health cures, investment scams and pyramid schemes.
Our direct and open dialogue with foreign postal administrations is instrumental in driving improvements, says scam mail service manager, Paul White.
‘Royal Mail is working with concerned postal operators around the world and law enforcement agencies to identify the criminals behind the scams and bring them to justice,’ said Paul, who represents Royal Mail as chair at a scam mail expert’s working group in the Universal Postal Union.
‘As part of a reciprocal agreement, colleagues in Royal Mail send a special notification to the relevant Postal Administration when we find scams from their country.
‘Everything is backed up by our dedicated scam mail customer experience team, who send sample scans of the mail sent directly to contacts within the sending country.
‘By taking this approach, we stopped 18% of the total scam mail coming into the UK from one particular country in just a couple of months.’
- Scam mail is designed to trick and defraud our customers into sending money for non-existent goods and services
- Scam mail is illegal and often breaks the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and/or The Fraud Act 2006
- Our business has made it clear that we want no part in either the processing or delivery of these items
- The Trading Standards team give briefings about scam mail. They have first-hand knowledge of the pain illegal mail causes to families across the UK.
If you or someone you know has received scam mail, please phone 0800 011 3466, or contact us at FREEPOST SCAM MAIL or scam.mail@royalmail.com.
