I hope this is the right place to put this,but thought people in the UK should know about this latest scam.

Postal Scam To Be Aware Of -
This is a genuine scam that Royal Mail have been made aware of
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Can you circulate this around especially as Xmas is fast approaching -

it has been confirmed by Royal Mail. 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 www.icstis.org.uk <file:///\\www.icstis.org.uk>

This was circulated last year too.

I read somewhere that it was a scam report of a fake scam! However I have just done a very small Google search and find lots of contradictory reports.

I guess it does no harm to be wary if you do receive one of these cards.

I would love to hear from anyone who has personally received one, (i.e. NOT a friend, or a friend of a friend!)

The premium rate number gives it away as a scam.
Any reputable parcel delivery service in UK would probably either have an 0800 (free) number or an 0845 (local rate) number.
In actual fact, other than a few "catalogue" companies (Kays, Littlewoods, Empire Stores, etc) the vast majority of parcels in UK are delivered by the Royal Mail themselves.

Snopes confirms this one not to be a hoax so be careful.

Same sort of thing reported in Australia.

As stated by Delboy, reputable companies have 1800 or 13 prefix numbers. Anything that starts with 1900 should have you wondering...

Along the same lines, recently I have been receiving scam emails informing me that a long-lost UK relative has passed away with no heirs, leaving me all their money. All I have to do to claim my fortune is send them my account numbers! These emails look very official, with graphics and important- sounding office names. Some have even claimed that a airline ticket has been provided, I just need to give a credit card number to hold it...

Be careful out there, everyone.

We've had two "new" scams here in New Jersey. The first - someone calls an older adult and asks why they failed to report for jury duty and a warrant is out for their arrest. The older adult panics - the caller says that for a set amount of money, the warrant will be cancelled. Naturally, credit cards are involved.
The second - a person is phoned and told that there is a "hit" out on him. The caller says he has been paid to kill the person phoned and for a set amount of money will cancel the hit. Again, credit cards are involved. But do not tell your friends or neighbors because they are probably in on the deal.

I also receive garbage from a fake paypal email address telling me someone has used my account overseas and if I don't respond to the email, my account will be terminated. I also have received from these same paypal scammers that my account needs to be updated. The first one I received was when my account was just a week old. For curiosity sake, I checked it out. The information called for included my ATM pin number. Of course I offered no information at all.
Be very careful!

Other scams going around here involve public sympathy for our troops in Iraq. The "soldier" had uncovered a large amount of cash there and wishes someone from home to help him transfer the money here. His commanding officer has given permission and a certain percentage belongs to him. Again - credit card number required for "transfer fees".
Wasn't it "G.I.Joe" who said - "Now you know and knowing is half the battle."

The golden rule here is quite simple ...

If it sounds too good to be true - IT IS !

The vast majority of these scams work because of one thing, and one thing only - peoples GREED !

Quite frankly, in my opinion - if a person is THAT greedy, that they think they are going to get a lot a lot of money for doing absolutely nothing, then they DESERVE to lose everything.

Thanks.

It's true, a lot of them operate on greed. However, not all - the postal one would be easy to fall for, if you do a lot of mail order shopping. I don't always know just exactly what is expected, especially with my children buying goods online too.

Luckily, everything delivered in my town is either Canada Post or Purolator - and no phone calls are involved. You just go down to the office and pick it up. No small delivery service would drive all the way out here, phony or legit. Even UPS doesn't come here.....

If I had all the money offerd on my eMAIL account, I would be richer than Bill Gates.Premium bonds , nigerian bank letters, I've lost count of them

I must say the same can be said of me to, mochyn. Apparently I've won euromillions once and several nigerian lotteries, to claim this cash all I have to do is give them enough details to forge my identity.