Cracking down on scam mail
Royal Mail has reported that it has stopped one million “scam mail” items from reaching UK homes since the launch of its latest drive against fraudsters in November. In a statement sent to Post&Parcel yesterday (3 July), Royal Mail said that the impounded scam mail is currently being stored in a secure warehouse in an undisclosed location before it is destroyed by trained operatives.
The scam mail in question includes items such as invitations to participate in lotteries with fake prizes and letters from “clairvoyants”.
“We are working hard to try and stop this terrible material from reaching UK households,” said Stephen Agar, Managing Director of Letters at Royal Mail. “Every item of scam mail, however, is one item too many. We continue to fight against the fraudsters who cause so much misery.”
In November, Royal Mail announced the coordination of an industry-wide response to tackle fraudulent mail at its source including the launch of an industry-wide code of practice, developed by Royal Mail and supported by firms including Whistl and UK Mail. And then in March, Royal Mail announced changes to the terms and conditions governing bulk mail contracts, enabling it to follow up on solid intelligence by refusing to carry mail that is suspected to be fraudulent.
