Former police officer loses £3000 in Royal Mail text scam

A police officer in the UK has lost over £3000 in a scam where crooks pretend to be from the Royal Mail.

Only recently we warned of a surge of scam Royal Mail text messages that told the recipient that they have a parcel waiting to be delivered but the recipient must first pay a small charge first.

The text messages lure recipients into clicking a link to “pay the charge”. However the link directed recipients to a spoof website designed to look like the Royal Mail website, but was in fact operated by crooks who would steal any information entered into it, including payment information.

According to a recent BBC article, even law enforcement officers are not immune to falling prey to such schemes. A former police officer from Carlisle, who is identified only as Alan, told the BBC that he lost over £3000 after falling for this scam.

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After receiving such a text, Alan clicked the link to the spoof website and entered his details. However, in this case, the scammers didn’t stop there. Using the contact information Alan provided on the website, the crooks called him up pretending to be from his bank (the crooks also knew who Alan banked with because the spoof website also asked this question.)

Over the phone, the crooks – while pretending to be his bank – claimed that Alan had fallen for a scam (ironically that was true) and that Alan needed to transfer all of his funds to a “safe account” to prevent crooks from accessing his funds (definitely not true.)

The crooks used the information Alan provided on the spoof website to “prove” they really were his bank.

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However, this was just a way of tricking Alan into transferring his money straight into a bank account operated by criminals. The money is then funnelled through various channels that are difficult for authorities to trace. Alan told the BBC –

I wouldn’t class myself as vulnerable, I have a previous life of explaining to people what to do and I got caught.

The key to avoiding these scams is to be extremely sceptical of unexpected text messages and phone calls.

Firstly, never click on links in unexpected text messages (or emails for that matter.) Royal Mail don’t send out text messages demanding recipients pay courier charges.

Secondly, never trust unexpected calls, especially if the person on the other end claims to be from your bank. Banks will never request customers transfer money between accounts or to a “safe account”. If you’re not sure if a call is genuine, hang up and call them back using the information on their website.

In Alan’s case his bank reimbursed him his lost money. However other victims may not be so lucky. So be careful out there, educate yourself about what scams are doing the rounds and never trust unexpected calls, texts and emails. And that will go a long way to making sure you don’t ever get scammed.