Royal Mail announced that it has successfully intercepted and stopped more than three million scam-mail items from reaching UK homes since stepping up its drive against fraudsters in November 2016.
This milestone follows the launch of several new initiatives aimed at protecting consumers from scam mail which can include invitations to participate in lotteries with fake prizes and letters from people posing as clairvoyants.
Stephen Agar, managing director consumer and network access, Royal Mail, said, “We are committed to doing everything we can to stop this fraudulent material from reaching UK households. We continue to deploy a range of different initiatives to keep one step ahead of the scammers.”
In March 2017, Royal Mail announced changes to the terms and conditions governing bulk mail contracts. The changes enabled Royal Mail to follow up on solid intelligence by refusing to carry mail that is suspected to be fraudulent.
In April 2017, Royal Mail began proactively contacting by Special Delivery households receiving high volumes of scam mail. Under the initiative, Royal Mail blocks and impounds scam mail at its major distribution centers before it reaches the customer’s letterbox.
The list of anti-scam initiatives taken by Royal Mail includes:
Leading the industry to launch a new code of practice on scam mail;
Writing to impacted households by Special Delivery to alert them to scam mail;
Stopping scam mail from reaching letterboxes by impounding at distribution centers;
Working with National Trading Standards Scams Team to train our delivery people to identify scam mail;
Providing a special helpline, email address and freepost address for customers;
Providing funding for the national ‘Friends Against Scams’ initiative;
Working in partnership with postal services in other countries; and
Funding academic research projects to better understand the issue.
March 6, 2018
