Royal Mail said it would never send a text message of this kind.

Fake Royal Mail texts

The fake Royal Mail text claims ‘your Royal Mail parcel is awaiting delivery. Please confirm the settlement of 1.99 (GBP) on the following link’. The link takes the victim to a fake website, that looks like an official Royal Mail site, and requests personal and payment details. Scammers may then use these details to steal someone’s identity and/or subsequently target them with other scams.

One victim’s story

The BBC reported that a drama student – Emmeline Hartley – fell for the scam and shared her story on Twitter as a warning to others. She received a text message from ‘Royal Mail’ claiming she owed payment for a package to be delivered. She followed the link and entered her bank details. The next day, a man claiming to be from her bank called her and spun a web of lies about a fraudster trying to set up direct debits in her account to other firms. Advised to create a new bank account, she innocently moved £1,000 from her secure bank account to a fake ‘safe account’ and subsequently lost her savings.

Thankfully her bank has agreed to fully reimburse her, but as this story highlights, fraudsters can be very convincing.

Protect yourself

• To report scams, contact Action Fraud
• To report email scams, contact the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) by emailing report@phishing.gov.uk
• For consumer advice, please call the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline on 0808 223 1133

Can we help?

If you are worried that you are a victim of scamming, please contact us on 01392 278612 to discuss how we can carry out investigations into potential scammers.