Royal Mail Hoax Scam (involving PDS)

caveat_emptor

I also got the info from a police source. Consider myself well and truly savaged.

trisontana

caveat_emptor wrote: »

I also got the info from a police source. Consider myself well and truly savaged.

Let's hope that the police are better at investigating crime then they are at checking out basic facts such as this story.

Francophile

I'm not sure if this is just affecting people in Northern Ireland. The information has been circulated round my DH's place of work so thought it might be helpful to make others aware just in case.

It has been confirmed by Royal Mail and the Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.

If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 02072396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at [URL="file://www.icstis.org.uk/"]www.icstis.org.uk[/URL] <http://www.icstis.org.uk/>

[EMAIL="abuse&#64;moneysavingexpert.com?subject=Reporting post http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.html?p=6634652"][/EMAIL]

jarrod1

why is this posted twice ?

ckerrd

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=579375

Francophile

jarrod1 wrote: »

why is this posted twice ?

Posted it on Northern Ireland board and then thought maybe it affected everyone.

RadoJo

Just in case anyone hasn't seen the other thread, I believe the gist of it is that this is a really old scam which is no longer doing the rounds, but the fact that the e-mail is suggests that it is just another spam message now.

trisontana

Here we go again :-

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/pds-phone-scam.html

A STATEMENT FROM PHONEPAYPLUS ABOUT THE CURRENT
‘POSTAL SCAM’ CHAIN EMAIL
PhonepayPlus, the phone-paid services regulator, is aware that a chain e-mail about an alleged
postal scam is being circulated on the internet. The email refers to the Royal Mail, Trading
Standards and ICSTIS (PhonepayPlus’ former name).
PhonepayPlus appreciates that recipients of the email may want to find out more information
about the alleged scam and has therefore issued the following statement:
• The chain email refers to a service that was shut down by us in December 2005.
• We subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom
(based in Belize), £10,000.
• The service is NO LONGER running and has NOT been running since December 2005.
• The email refers to a £15 charge for simply being connected to a recorded message.
This is NOT TRUE – a £15 connection charge does NOT exist. The service in question
actually cost £1.50 per minute and lasted six minutes, making a total cost of £9 if callers
stayed on the line for the full six minutes.
• You do NOT need to contact us, or the Royal Mail, about this service as it was stopped
almost two years ago.
• If you receive a copy of the email warning you about the alleged scam, please do NOT
forward it to others. Instead, please forward this statement from PhonepayPlus.
• Please go to https://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/pdfs_news/ConsumerGuide.pdf for useful
information about how to recognise phone-paid services and understand what they cost,
and some simple tips to help you enjoy using services with confidence.
• For more detailed information about our work, please visit http://www.phonepayplus.org.uk/.
19 October 2007

Anthillmob

my friend had one recently where he received a letter telling him he had won 3k asking him to call a phone number. seems the 'nigerian scammers - give us your bank details please' are now posting stuff as well as emailing.

trisontana

Anthillmob wrote: »

my friend had one recently where he received a letter telling him he had won 3k asking him to call a phone number. seems the 'nigerian scammers - give us your bank details please' are now posting stuff as well as emailing.

This email is not a scam as such. It's a chain-email that's warning about a non-existent scam. Nobody is going to make money out of it. All it's doing is filling up in-boxes because people are making checks to see if there is any truth in this "warning".

What's most annoying is that police forces are issuing this "warning" without making any checks on the authenticity of the message. Lets hope they are better at investigating crimes. This is also true of some local newspapers who are also publishing the story. Perhaps this is a new form of journalism - just publish any old rubbish without checking if it's true or not.