Stamping out mail cheats

Tamper-proof stamps are to be issued to thwart fraudsters who peel off or soak old ones to reuse them.

Tamper-proof stamps are to be issued to thwart fraudsters who peel off or soak old ones to reuse them.

The trick costs the Royal Mail hundreds of thousands of pounds a year – and is soaring as credit crunch-hit customers try to get away without paying.

The new security Machin stamps have two sticky panels that tear if they’re peeled off, and are printed on special paper with the words Royal Mail repeated – similar to security features used on bank notes to stop forgeries.

A Royal Mail source revealed stamp fraud was rife, explaining: “Most letters do get properly franked, but very occasionally something will get through, such as when the machines can’t read the postcode.

“We’ve also heard about people washing mail to get the black ink off. It’s incredible what some people will do to save a bit of money.”

The 36p first-class and 27p second-class tamper-proof stamps, which are also self-adhesive rather than lick-and-stick, will be issued this week.

A spokesman for the post service said: “We constantly review security features.”

From April, first class will be 39p and second 30p