Has your post gone missing?
Royal Mail's redirection service sends mail from your old address to your new home when you move. It costs just under £40 for 12 months, and is supposed to reduce the risk of identity theft. But what if it's not you that's redirecting your post?
By early August 2009, BBC sports presenter John Inverdale hadn't had any post for nearly a month. There'd been strikes locally so he put it down to that. But when he bumped into his postman on his street, he found out his name was on the redirection list. The problem was this was the first he'd heard of it. He simply hadn't signed up.
While the police investigated, John headed to Berlin to cover the athletics World Championships. He hoped the police would be able to find out where his mail was and who had re-directed it.
Applying for credit
The police soon discovered that - somehow - online fraudsters had redirected John's mail across town to a North London address. Someone John knew nothing about had been getting his letters, bills and salary details. On police advice, John put a block on all his credit and debit cards. This meant that while John was away from home he was unable to get hold of his own money.
Stopping John's cards also meant the scamsters couldn't get their hands on the money in his bank account. But they'd found other things they could do with his details. When John got back from Berlin, he found that three credit cards had been opened in his name.
John was angry but relieved it wasn't worse. "I still don't know what they did with those cards. But at least none of my money was stolen."
Opening bank accounts
Julie Ham wasn't so lucky. Just like John, she noticed she wasn't receiving any mail. Just to be sure - she did her own test.
"Every day of that week I sent myself a letter to see if I was getting post...I sent them from my work, I got my work to send me post, I got my partner to send me post just to see if anything came through. Nothing came at all."
Julie then got a letter from Royal Mail confirming that she had redirected her mail. Like John, she hadn't. She immediately asked Royal Mail to stop the redirection but it was too late; the fraudsters had already opened bank accounts in her name.
"It just made me so angry because I had all these banks, nine different banks contact me saying I'd applied for things which I hadn't done".
This time, the fraudsters had managed to take money direct from Julie's bank account.
"It was between about £150-£300 in total that they took from my bank. And obviously there could still be fake accounts out there I don't know about".
Julie's bank did gave her the money back but Royal Mail still can't tell either of them exactly how their identities were stolen. So what could be wrong with their redirection scheme that lets this sort of thing happen?
Counterfeit phone bills
Tom Ilube, an internet security expert from Garlik illustrated how simple it can be.
"Really the fraudsters today are very focussed on money. So if they're getting hold of your mail, they want to see what your bank details are. They want new credit cards that you've applied for coming to them instead of you. Or they're applying for new things like bank credit cards, like store cards and having them directed to them rather than directed to you.
"It's pretty straight-forward. A while ago, a few years ago, it used to be a technical challenge. Now with the sort of computing power, the sort of equipment people have got, it's just easier and easier. So if you can basically use a computer, you can use the internet, you can use a computer and a scanner, you can take over someone's identity."
In just a few minutes, Tom demonstrated how he can become John by rustling up a counterfeit phone bill.
We don't know exactly how the fraudsters hijack the Royal Mail's redirection scheme. To set up a redirection online, you need a credit card registered to either the old or new address. No problem for a well connected scamster. But you can also do it in person at the post office. You need two forms of IDbut one can be a utility billlike the one Tom showed can just be whipped up.
Ruined credit ratings
For some people, the long term implications can be devastating. Sharon and Kevin Hamer are building their dream home in Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Last April fraudsters re-directed their mail to an address in Nottingham and started applying for credit cards in their name.
"Whoever did this took £5,874.74..It's not the money they've taken out, it's the credit rating that they've ruined for us".
In a branch hundreds of miles from Merthyr Tydfil fraudsters filled in a form pretending to be the Hamers.
"The sheer number of credit applications that have been processed against both our names has resulted in our credit rating being taken away from us".
Although the bank gave back the money spent on the credit card, no-one will lend the Hamers enough money to finish the house.
"Unfortunately this is the reason we're having to put it on the market as well... I'm struggling".
The Royal Mail is so proud of its redirection service that they've handed out a leaflet to their workforce pointing out that the scheme is a 'great money-earner' for Royal Mail bringing in a staggering £49m a year.
However, the second paragraph of the internal leaflet refers to the fact they've had to hand back £332,000 in compensation to customers. The question is how much of that was paid to people who had their mail and money redirected straight into the hands of crooks?
Royal Mail said:
"Redirection of mail provides a hugely valuable service for a great many people and having an accessible redirection service is, in itself, recognised by the Home Office and law enforcement agencies as an important safeguard against fraud because without it, significant amounts of mail would be at risk of being delivered to addresses from which the addressee had moved.
"The security of our customers' mail is of the utmost importance to Royal Mail and we deploy a range of security checks for our Redirection service - so sending a confirmation letter to the address from where mail is to be redirected is just one of the steps we take to protect our customers and their personal data. We constantly review security arrangements and we work closely with the police and other agencies to ensure we take all reasonable steps to guard against any criminal attack on the service."
Royal Mail strike
"We are still maintaining and delivering our Special Delivery service and would recommend its use for customers when sending valuable items or items that require a guaranteed next day delivery.
"Customers are directed to our website at www.royalmail.com/serviceupdates (or call Customer Services on 08457 740 7400) where the latest information about strike dates and areas affected can be found. In those areas where there is strike action, customers should be aware that this will cause delay to mail."
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I too have been a victim of identity theft as a result of a fraudulent mail redirection placed on my mail. I had to involve the police before we could get the information from them as to where my mail had been sent to. Eventually the redirection was stopped but not before many financial and personal information was given to the fraudster. They have refused so far to offer compensation for their incompetence sighting that the redirection service is not covered under their compensation schemes so was interesting to note on tonights programme that they have had to pay out several thousands in compensation already. Not content with redirecting my mail fraudulently they then starting returning my mail to sender. My postman wrongly assumed that since the redirection had now been cancelled I no longer lived at my own address. UPshot is that for two months now i have received no mail. Their customer service has been shocking. Apologies simply dont cut it and I intend to take matters as far as I can for the hassle and stress they have caused.
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In my personal expierance I thought that when re-directing my fathers mail after his passing, it was far too easy. No ID was required, no confirmation that I, or my father had lived at the previous address. Absolutley anyone could re-direct mail.
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Im an ex royal mail employee and have to point out that the security of the redirection centre is really important. It is a service that can stop Id fraud becuase if you do move house and letters go to your old address anyone can get hold of them.
royal mail write to every address and advise that a redirection is in place and they are right not to give out information over the phone. if they did give out information and it wasnt you you'd complain pretty quickly.
of course they cannot tell you where the mail is being redirected too it may not be you!
As forthe strikes its very important that we understand its not royal mail. its the union the cwu that are encouraging the strike. royal mail are against it and there are hundreds of royal mail managers thet usually work in desk jobs that are donning the uniform and doing there best to deliver ou mail. they are shouted at by the general public for being on strike even though they are delivering mail.
royal mail still are the only service that have the capability to deliver to every address in the UK and still do there utmost to deliver every item. even when so many staff are out on strike!
you never hear anyone complaining about the ridiculously militant CWU!
lindsay harris
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How can you blame the Royal Mail for the identity theft. The fraudsters have already slolen
the identity in order to set up the false redirection.
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I received today 15th October 2009 a reorded royal mail letter posted 23rd June 2009
nearly 3 months to get to me !!!!!!
Thanks Royal Mail great service!!
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I send between 20 and 50 items a week using royal mail. To my surprise one of my packages got delivered to a customer on a SUNDAY!
Also, why is it cheaper for me to send a packet using airmail £1.21, and 1st class post costs me £1.28? I wouold have thought using an airplane would cost more but apparently not!
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Royal Mail could make the redirection process much safer by adapting an idea used by many online services: send a confirmation letter to the old address containing a unique authorisation code. If the householder calls Royal Mail with the correct code within a certain number of days, the redirection takes place. If they don't, the request is considered incomplete and nothing happens.
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I think its partly due to corruption in the individual sorting office's. Our local postal service is horrendous. Recently my gas bill didn't turn up, and then a month later some-one claiming to be from british gas, phoned to pester me into making a payment for the bill I hadn't received. I knew from the way the conversation went and as they were trying to take a payment over the phone that it was a con, but it worries me that some-one had been able to steal my post in the first place.
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They have to have been allowed to steal your post in the first place, before they could have stolen your identity, its this beginning stage thats the most worrying, who is handing the post over to them!!. . . [comment removed by moderator]
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After my father died, someone took his identity and applied for various credit accounts. I had arranged a redirect but then someone else arrange another redirect. Post office would not help at all, would not give information to police. Eventually I wrote to them and said "I understood that there was provision in the Data Protection Act to enable exemptions in connection with prevention or detection of crime and what the Royal Mail’s policy is on providing information on fraudulent redirections" and they sent me the address by return.
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I do not beleeve the comment the royal mail stated that they send a confirmation letter out to the original address confirming that the redirection address has been successful. When I moved house with my parents 3 yeers ago, we registered with the royal mail to have our post redirected and it was a week before we moved house, we never reseeved a confirmation letter to our old address or even to the new address.
Helen Long
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I had my post redirected in June 2009. I have received it correctly at my new address until today when I opened my reidrected mail to find a credit card bill for the new owner of my old house. I peeled the redirection label off another piece of mail and found that was also for him. I will be making a complaint tomorrow. This is an unforgivable mistake that breaches this perons privacy. Thankfully I'm an honest person. In the wrong hands it could be terrible.
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I have massive sypathy with the couple from Wales in this evenings Watchdog. I too have been a victim of Identity theft resulting in fruadulent credit and defaults being posted against my credit file. This has resulted in a mortgage application being declined when I have an otherwise clear record. It has taken be eight months to prove to the world this was not me and to have the defaults removed from my credit file. There is no help out there for the victims of identity fraud, most of the advice is about avoiding fraud not how to deal with it when it happens to you. Like the couple from Wales, no solicitor wants to help resolve this. This is a very murky area that deserves to be hightlighted by Watchdog, especially for anyone trying to have fraudulent credit agreements removed from their credit file in order to clear their name. The data protection act does nothing but hinder this process. It is possible to repair your credit file, it takes persistance, a lot of investigation and a long time; it really shouldn't be that way.
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I had a letter from Post Office insurance, from the named manager of my local branch saying something like "remember when we spoke recently in the branch and you said I should write to you when your car insurance was going to expire?" I had never had such a conversation and don't even have a car! The only time I have given the Post Office my address has been when complaining about registered letters that have gone missing.
I have had 3 registered letters that I have sent go missing in the last 6 months - its a lottery whether they ever get there or not. I no longer trust the post office with important or valuable items.
I paid over £30 for guaranteed delivery to send a sixtieth birthday present to my father in law in France. The post office lost it. When I complained I got very poor service - can't tell me what happened and don't offer any compensation. They initially offered to give me a number for the French post service so I could investigate myself! When I refused to do this they promised to phone back, but no-one ever did. Not interested in helping. When I wrote, they sent me back standard letters ignoring what I sent them. I'm a very unhappy customer.
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Royal Mail have in most cases done away with postmen being on the same delivery, they are moved from round to round weekly.
If like in the past the postman was on the same round he would get to know his customers and notice that 'Mr Bloggs' had not moved and that he is receiving no post, the postman would make enquiries himself.
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When i was moving house in 2008 I set up a years mail redirection from my old rented house to my new property. All was well and the redirection service worked well....for a few weeks anyway. Then I started getting post addressed to someone else at my old address. It turned out my old house had been rented to someone with the same first name as me and a surname similar to mine, I am Harris and the new tennant;s surname was Berris. Now i understood the confusion and reported it to Royal Mail and after a couple of months they advised me they had put an Alert at the local sorting office and this should sort it. It didnt, I eventually went to Postwatch who also tried to sort the problem but also failed...Eventually the year was up and I did eventually get a full refund from Royal Mail. It was a bit disturbing as I was getting the new tennants Bank & Credit card statements and if I had been a crook I could have a field day with all her personal details, but working for my local Police force I went out of my way each time I got her post and took it to her address myself and let her know what was happening.
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I had a problem with royal mail but mine was not redirection. Some of my mail will not reach me and some of them will come opened. I had gift vouchers sent to me but never got them, and a gascard and a bank card never got to me. I contacted Royal Mail and was only told to go and get a form from the post office and fill it in attaching the evidence. I dont know where they expected me to get evidence yet i never got the letters delivered to me. They were not helpful at all. Now i even opt to use other couriers even if they are expensive than Royal Mail.
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I have used the redirection service twice in my life time. I have been very happy with the service. On both occasions I was sent a confirmation letter to the 'old' address to inform me of all the details regarding the redirection. Which brings to me to question how the people in the programme did not know their mail was being redirected, as they should have recieved a confirmation letter.
What I will agree with is the appalling customer service Royal Mail provide. The amount of options you have to go through is unlike any company I have tried before. And on a few occasions when you do 'finally' get through to the right department they cut you off!!!!!
Other than that, my local postman and office provide an excellent service.
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I have had an even worse problem!
I used to send some of my mail from my business through Royal Mail's special delivery guaranteed service and recorded first class packages.
Under UK postal law they are required to cover at least £37 per any piece of mail with their guaranteed services offering £500 upwards.
Royal Mail failed to deliver 35 items that I have posted totalling £2,158 consisting of 3 guaranteed special delivery items covered for £500 each!
This now dates back to 2007 and as of yet Royal Mail have refused to pay.
They requested that i send proof of postage including all receipts and delivery dockets and they claim they 'got lost in the post' - their own postal system!!!!! They are now holding me liable for this despite them providing a pre-paid envelope already tracked and recorded!!!!!!!!!
Furthermore, in 2007 I was subject to identity fraud through the post for which £3,688 I had saved for university was stolen from my bank account and never returned. it was sent somewhere in america (due to my own research) and i have never ever set foot ouside of europe!!! The bank once again hid behind their data protection act and put me as the subject of the crime and the thiefs got away with it! Thanks alot Royal mail!!!!!!!
please help and i feel this is very on subject of tonights show!
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Applied for redirection to start 1st October..it actually started 5 days later and also we are now getting the mail of the person (my son) who is now living in our old address!!
Norrie Hunter
Ayrshire
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Royal mail are hiding behind the data protection act when they clearly don't understand it. You have a right to know what data they hold about you and to get it corrected if it is incorrect. Put a subject access request in and they must respond. Once you have that you advise them that the details are wrong and they are legally obliged to change the details.
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So dirk_p, someone calls up RM and insists their name is dirk_p, they have your address (because they've stolen your identity), they know you've moved and have got a redirection, they want to know where your mail is going to so that they can cancel the redirection and have your mail for themselves. They insist they have a right to know so RM tells them, they then call again and quote both addresses and cancel the redirection. Your mail stops being redirected to your address and they then have all your personal information. Great idea.
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My husband's post was fraudlently redirected, and as a result, 16 months later he is still attempting to repair his credit file. No action from Royal Mail, minimal and frankly incompetent action from one of the credit card companies and complete disregard from the credit reference agencies. Is any solicitor big enough for a class action?
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As I work away from home I had my post redirected to my office last year (supposedly). Firstly they did not redirect it when they said, then they sent it to the wrong address then after many calls and complaints things were OK for 5 months. Suddenly I stopped receiving post and it turned out that no one knew where it was going, I thought they may have been using the old address labels again but no one could confirm this and I never got stuff like my Car tax reminder and insurance quote. Eventually Royal Mail sent me my money back with an apology. Since then I've had no problems !
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kazzyandcats - I suggest you check principle 6 of the data protection act - this is the section which deals with your rights under the act. One of your rights is to be able to request the details which an organisation holds on you - a subject access request. As long as the organisation you make the subject access request to is satisfied of your ID, you have made the request in writing and you pay the fee (which should be £10), then they must disclose all the information they have on you.
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Under Section 3 of the Data Protection Acts, you have a right to find out, free of charge, if a person (an individual or an organisation) holds information about you. You also have a right to be given a description of the information and to be told the purpose(s) for holding your information. By requesting this you should get the address to which your post is being redirected ( obviously collect the reply from your local post office in person.)
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Last Friday evening I received mail to say I had applied for 4 credit cards and Royal mail sent me a message to say that my mail was to be redirected. We moved to our new house 3 months ago so Royal Mail knew to contact us.
However, trying to get in contact with the banks on a weekend is a joke as the fraud departments generally only work weekday office hours. Only Cahoot were open to cancelling the cards straight away. When I did finally get through to the companies to cancel the cards on the Monday the call centre options are cumbersome. On RBS phone system the options only assume you have an account with them and they ask for your account number. Basically the whole system is ridiculous for dealing with fraud of personal ID. Something I was clearly a victim of. One bank asked if I was a Company Director (I am)- When I asked why she said that my date of birth is available on Companies House Website!! I need to check this out.
All companies need to gear up to this fraud. Thank goodness Royal Mail contacted me to let me know about the fraudulent redirection. Mind you they still haven't answered their phone with my replies as there is never anyone there!! If I hadn't already moved I guess I would have missed all my mail by now!
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I was one of the people featured on Watchdog this evening - I was standing next to the couple from South Wales but my comment was cut from the programme. I feel the point I made was particularly relevant with regard to the so-called proof of ID which was presented at a post office counter to enable the redirection.
We were also scammed by a fraudulent redirection this summer which resulted in five credit card applications made in our names by the criminals, and two of these applications were approved - with the fraudsters raking in just under £5,000.
We managed to get a copy of the actual redirection application - the fraudsters had simply taken our details (which they could have obtained from the electoral roll) and filled in a Jobcentre form which they then presented as ID at a post office in Manchester. It was approved. Royal Mail say they ask for a photo driving licence or a passport but this is not mandatory! So with the flimsiest of ID, the redirection was issued and our post stopped arriving. Once we realised what had happened and contacted the police, we were told that our mail had been redirected from hour home in West Yorkshire to a property in Oldham. As well as receiving items we had ordered online, they also received mail with our personal ID details and goodness knows what else.
It has been a very stressful time for us and Royal Mail have been indifferent, incompetent and complacent. I really hope that the feature on Watchdog will not only lead to much tighter security with redirection applications, and also to some compensation for ourselves as well as the numerous other people who have been affected.
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We are in the middle of trying to sort all of this out after having our identity stolen because of Royal Mail. It is a terribly upsetting and stressful thing to go through. WE HAVE EXTRA THINGS TO ADD AFTER LAST NIGHTS PROGRAMME:-
We moved house 6 months ago and in our opinion either Royal Mails IT systems are being infiltrated or worse as people that have moved are being especially targetted. Easy as after 6 months the mail coming from your old address has diminished so you dont notice that it has stopped. We are still on the electoral role at our old address and all of the accounts, loans and credit cards have been set up at that address - they even managed to get my credit report. Thank goodness for our old postman from our old address who returned from holiday and flagged it up to his managers that he thought there was a problem
I was told by Royal mail that the gang in South London has been operating for 2 years - Royal Mail could stamp this out (no pun intended) if they stuck to their protocol of sending a confirmation letter - They did not do this in our case - Somebody walked into a post office and paid cash to have mail re-directed from our old address and WE cannot understand if they have been aware of this for 2 years why no letter was sent to us at our new address asking if this was correct. When is somebody going to do something about it - My letter of complaints is going into Royal Mail this week but they struggle to return phone calls, not expecting much response from a letter.
More ridiculous is that we are finding that the banks and police are not talking too each other. Banks I feel are too embarrased at how often this is happening and how easy it is. Police in our case have asked the banks to send them any information they have that may help in the case as they are not able to approach the banks. Banks say if they have not lost more than 10K they cant - Police say thats not the case so we are at stalemate. banks have vital information about the fraudsters that are not being passed to the police.
This such a horrible thing to happen to you and I dread the post coming through the door as daily there is more bank accounts and loans from the banks. We feel so stressed about it and the time it takes to sort it out is frustrating. We keep getting letters with blank paper in and thats horrible as you know it is from the farudsters checking if the post is getting through.
I think we should all get together and bring a compensation case against the Royal Mail
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I have been battling with the post office since March 09, I have written, visted and made several complaint, but all they did was to send my post man to visit me who said that he was away sick in Feb - May when mu post went missing. Because of their errors, my daughter JSA stapped for 6 weeks and I have a host of unpaid bills where now debt collects are calling. Where next can I go to get he help needed.
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when you pay the £32 to have your mail redirected it takes 10 days to effect this instruction. BUT when you read the very small print Royal Mail have sold your new address details on to direct mail marketeers for a new lot of junk mail to arrive at your new abode! You then have to go through the hassle of stopping the rubbish.
Scammers and fraudsters of all nationalities are working very hard constantly looking for any bits of personal data they can fit into a jigsaw to extract free money from gullible people - sometimes with the help of banks, companies, experian credit bureau, government agencies, all hiding behind the Data protection act which no one seems to understand or apply. The crooks are brighter than the politicians who are too busy fiddling their own expenses.
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Having worked in the Royal Mail Redirection centre I can assure you all that protection of customers from fraud is the NUMBER ONE priority of the entire team. Fraudsters will ALWAYS find a way to commit crime, but the dedicated RM fraud team and Redirection staff do all they can to mitigate the circumstances when fraud occurs.
Here's an idea for you to think about: Royal Mail withdraws the Redirection service completely, so when you move house, all your lovely bank statements etc keep going to whoever now lives at you old address for them to look at, gradually receiving all the information they need to steal your identity. I suspect this would cause rather a lot more fraud than currently happens because of the excellent Redirection service. :) Royal Mail is the whipping boy of the media at the moment, go try and send a letter from Lands End to Edinburgh by [courier companies removed] etc and see how much that costs you eh???? More than 36p I'll wager.
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In view of this scary report I am thinking that it might be a good plan to write to Royal Mail [will they ever get the letter!]or perhaps email them to say that we have absolutely no intention of moving in the near or distant future so would they please refuse any requests for redirection of mail. I would ask them to acknowledge my request. Then, if it happens, they are totally to blame.
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Surely the problem could be easily solved by the Post Office. Firstly, anyone applying for a redirection must have the application form sent by the post office to the 'old' address, either as a recorded delivery or registered letter item,the application form could then be completed and returned with, or in, the original envelope to the originating sorting office dealing with the redirection request. This would help to prevent a high proportion of these ID Theft attempts.
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If Royal Mail won't divulge the address to which your mail has been fraudulently directed, aren't they aiding and abetting the criminals who are illegally opening your mail? Mail can only be opened legally by the addressee.
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This sounds to me like Royal Mail is the scapegoat. The ID Fraud has already taken place before the Redirection has been set up. You can’t blame royal mail for that.
I had a 2yr Redirection with them- never had any problems. A letter was sent to my old and new address (exactly as they stated). I am sure that anyone will agree- Yes, problems do occur after all most people/organisations 'can' and 'do' make mistakes.
With regards to the comments about receiving post, I lived in an African country for 20 years where post was something you may or may not get and therfore cannot understand the obsession people have with receiving daily post.
Hats off to Royal Mail and its staff- I think they do a brilliant and very under appreciated job. Lets start focusing on matters that are more important after all there are people who are homeless, sick and starving in the world
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I have started a blog to collate our stories. There is strength in numbers - let's get together to force Royal Mail to acknowledge their
incompetence and press for compensation.
[Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
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Isn't it time Royal Mail ceased being 'Royal'. Surely it doesn't enjoy any Royal patronage and the use of the word Royal gives it a status it doesn't deserve these days.
Royal Mail is just another delivery service similar (and no better) than many alternative delivery services (How about a survey, Watchdog?).
The Queens head on postage stamps is also an irrelevance when, at many special times of year or occasions, it can be replaced by snowmen, ships, planes and all sorts of other images. I realise this is the province of The Post Office but they are only used for Royal Mail deliveries.
I'm not anti-royalist, quite the reverse, but feel the name 'Royal' Mail is an anachronism.
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Further to Royal Mail using Data Protection to refuse to tell you to where your mail has been fraudulently directed, ask them to send you the confirmation letter they say they send before redirection is implemented. I don't see how they can refuse.
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I agree that the redirection is a great facility but feel the application process is seriously flawed. Firstly the application form shold be posted to the original address and then following this up with photo ID is a must although it appears from some comments this is not always required. Surely it is not right for fraud of this nature to be carried out so easily.
Royal Mail you need to get your act together.
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HI,
What surprises me is why banks have not taken action to stop this. I can't speak for anywhere else in the country, but I live in Middlesbrough in the North East and every time I get a Council Tax Bill, it has printed on the envelope in big letters DNR - DO NOT REDIRECT this means that this bill will always be delivered to my home address even if a fraudster has set up a phony redirection they will never get their hands on my council tax bill. So why don't banks use this same service for sending out bank card and statements - if fact anything can contains personal information.
It does mean that all customers will have to take responsibility for ensuring they update their home address with their banks when they move, but I am sure people would rather do that than risk thousands of pound of fraud. And if fraudsters know they will not get any banking information they will be no need for them to continue redirections people mail.
What I am also surprised about is that Royal Mail don't seem to advertise this service. I searches under mail services for business and could not find it. However I did find a mention of the service and proof that it does exist on their PO Box Pages. So why do Royal Mail list this service clerly on their website? Perhaps this is because Royal Mail knows that if too many business start using this servicw they will loose out on their lucrtive Redirect service and making thousands of pounds of profits from Fraudsters who are paying with stolen cash to have other people mail redirected.
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Hi I work for Royal Mail In Essex yes just a postie last week I had 2 Eaastern European fraudsters attemp to ask me for mail for 2 of my customers, any postie knows that we should not hand mail over to anybody so i didnt. these 2 gentlemen looked a little confused even though they were giving me the name of the persons of the addresses luluckily i had alredy posted one customers mail the other i had not.
So when one of the men came back to me and asked for the mail that was supposedly urgent i told him i would be there in half an hour then i went to the address they wanted the mail for and saw the owner and asked yhem if they had sent somebody to collect there mail they had not i advised them to contact rm customer care and i went off to call the police as i had the number plate of the car they were using
and also reported the situation to management as far as i am concerned i think as long as you knoe your customers and have a bit of common sence these fraudsters should not be able to get away with what they are doing and a little tip to customers shred everything
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Unfortunately the BBC won't allow me to put my blog address here for post fraud but a google search on blogspot on postfraud may bring it up. Please take note BBC - it is all very well featuring the stories about this fraud for an entertainment show, but we need you to support us in our fight for compensation and acknowledgement from Royal Mail.
Indidentally, some people are questioning why victims such as myself did not find out about the redirection as we should have got a letter informing us of it - we never received the letter.[allegation removed by moderator]
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Surely if RM are sending a confirmation letter to a person making an application for a redirection to be made, they'd include the old snd new sddresses to mske sure that RM had the correct addresses concerned, or would that be too obvious?
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I have been having my post redirect for 3 months and recently noticed that something I was expecting had not arrived. I checked and found that it had been sent to my old address by mistake. I went to my old address to check if it was there and found about a third of the post that should have been redirected there including bank statements, credit card statements and phone bills. In the first month after moving you expect there to be some crossover with the addresses, which is why I used the redirection service. I contacted Royal Mail and was offered no explanation just a few excuses and eventually an apology. If this is how they deal with genuine customers is it any wonder identity fraud is on the increase.
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