Scam mail crackdown: you can help beat the fraudsters

Royal Mail and Trading Standards have joined forces today to crack down on scam mail, and they want you to join in.

Trading Standards will alert Royal Mail to fraudulent mailing and tell companies responsible to stop. Royal Mail will then cancel companies’ contracts if they continue to post fraudulent items.

As part of the campaign postmen and women will be encouraged to report suspect mail to Royal Mail’s internal security team. Meanwhile Trading Standards will not only investigate suspected scam mail but also support potential victims.

Royal Mail and Trading Standards are also encouraging people who believe they, or a family member, are receiving potentially fraudulent mail to report it.

Royal Mail’s group security director Tony Marsh said: “We understand the upset and anxiety that scam mail can cause, in particular to vulnerable people and their families. We do not want our postmen or women handling or delivering mail that causes harm.”

Consumer affairs minister Jo Swinson welcomed the move: “It will help tackle the threat posed by postal scammers,” she said. “Stopping fraudulent mail from entering the postal system will better protect vulnerable people and mean they won’t become victims of targeted, and often cleverly worded traps, designed to part them from their savings.”

The organisations want you to join the fight against crooks by reporting potentially fraudulent mail.

Write to Royal Mail at Freepost Scam Mail or call on 03456 113 413 or email scam.mail@royalmail.com