Eight arrested for fake Royal Mail text messages after police raids in UK

8 people have been arrested in the UK during dawn raids as part of an investigation into a surge of scam text messages purporting to be from the Royal Mail.

Such “failed delivery” text scams have been on the rise during the first half of 2021. These fake text messages claim to be from the Royal Mail, and assert that the recipient has a delivery pending. However the messages goes on to say the recipient must first visit a website and pay a delivery charge.

However the websites these scam text messages direct to do not belong to the Royal Mail. They’re imposter websites, and any money and information entered into them goes to the crooks. There is no ‘pending delivery’ from Royal Mail.

Such scam texts are examples of phishing attacks, or “smishing” (which refers to phishing attacks sent via SMS.)

An example of a scam Royal Mail text message.

Officers from the Dedicated Card & Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), a dedicate Met Police unit targeted card and payment fraud, arrested eight men during dawn raids in London, Coventry, Birmingham and Colchester.

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During the raids, police recovered stolen bank details and devices suspected of being used to send the fake Royal Mail scam text messages. Seven of those arrested have been released under investigation while one man has been charged and is in custody. In a statement the unit said –

The suspects arrested during the operations are believed to have been involved in sending out scam texts primarily posing as Royal Mail, which claim the recipient needs to pay an outstanding postage fee for a parcel or input their details to rearrange a delivery.

It’s not only fake Royal Mail texts that have been on the rise in 2021. Scams claiming to come from Hermes, DPD, DHL and HSBC – among others – have all been prolific this year. It is unclear at present if any of the men arrested were responsible for these scam text messages as well.

Remember, if you get an unexpected text asking you to click a link or call a phone number, be sceptical. Contact the entity in question directly using contact information found on their legitimate website or your official paperwork.

Always avoid clicking on links, because these can take you anywhere. And never call a phone number that is on a text message because this number can direct you to anyone, including scammers.

And remember, report these scams! It is your reporting that allows authorities to obtain the necessary information to crack down on these sorts of scammers. In the UK, you can forward scam text messages to 7726.