Royal Mail has announced that it has successfully intercepted 3 million fraudulent letters from reaching UK homes since stepping up its drive against criminals in November 2016.
Several initiatives have been set up to protect consumers from fraudulent mail which can include invitations to participate in
fake lotteries with prizes and letters from people posing as “clairvoyants”.
Some of the fraud prevention initiatives created by Royal Mail include; stopping scam mail from reaching letterboxes by impounding at distribution centres and training frontline workers to identify scam mail. Royal Mail also provide a special helpline, email address and Freepost address for customers.
Stephen Agar, Managing Director of Letters at 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.”
A joint initiative with the National Trading Standards Scams Team was
originally introduced in 2014 where thousands of frontline workers at Royal Mail were trained in how to identify scam mail and spot potential victims.
The National Trading Standards Scams team estimate postal scams could be netting criminals worldwide up to £10 billion a year
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If you think you have been a victim of fraud you should report it to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 20 40 or by using the online reporting tool.