A resident recently received an email appearing to be from Royal Mail. The message claimed that Royal Mail had received a letter addressed to the resident which they had tried unsuccessfully to deliver. In order to re-deliver the letter, the resident was asked to pay £1.99
The resident was sure that this low-value transaction was not unreasonable and provided personal and card details to support the payment. However, the resident had second thoughts and realised that this action was unwise. They contacted the relevant fraud department and cancelled all cards before any damage had been done!
This is a classic example of how easily the scammers can take us off-guard and persuade us to provide personal information that can have dramatic consequences.
Should you receive an unexpected email from a bank, card provider, service provider, etc. make sure that you CHECK the sender’s email address. They can be made to look genuine, so ensure that the address is correct for the sender. A very minor difference in the address structure can make all the difference, eg. an extra letter, number or full-stop, etc.
