Post Office / Parcelforce Scam

[Stese]

The issue has got worse in recent years mainly due to the appearance of Voice over IP services. a few companies in the market simply sell lines and numbers to anyone who'll pay.

For some reason, Ofcom hasn't regulated who can issue UK numbers very well, and these shady companies are not checking who is buying them... this is why so many come from valid UK geographic numbers.

The best way to fight these scams is to make it unprofitable to do so. Lines are charged per second, so if you have the time to waste, keep these scammers on the phone for as long as possible. Tell them you need to fine your wallet/card etc and then leave the phone off the hook for a while, and make a tea or something... then come back and 'realise' you've got them on the phone... if you've still got them, apologise and do it again if you can. eventually they'll give up. Keeping them on the line costs them money, and prevents them scamming anyone else.

[GeoffAlan2]

The issue has got worse in recent years mainly due to the appearance of Voice over IP services. a few companies in the market simply sell lines and numbers to anyone who'll pay.

For some reason, Ofcom hasn't regulated who can issue UK numbers very well, and these shady companies are not checking who is buying them... this is why so many come from valid UK geographic numbers.

The best way to fight these scams is to make it unprofitable to do so. Lines are charged per second, so if you have the time to waste, keep these scammers on the phone for as long as possible. Tell them you need to fine your wallet/card etc and then leave the phone off the hook for a while, and make a tea or something... then come back and 'realise' you've got them on the phone... if you've still got them, apologise and do it again if you can. eventually they'll give up. Keeping them on the line costs them money, and prevents them scamming anyone else.

I once managed to do this for 20 minutes, and I even got them to ring back the next day! When the guy finally cottoned on he was incandescent.

[Stese]

an epic result!

[RAF96]

To give the real Royal Mail some credit.
A friend sent me his controller from Blackpool on Wednesday afternoon. I got it in East Anglia first post Thursday.
I updated his controller and had it back in the post that afternoon and he received it first post Friday.
One could say - first class post.

[The Sligo Rover]

I had a scam text last week, Hermes parcel missed delivery, follow a link to rebook a slot at a cost of £1.45,
Like a lot of these scams, it just did not look right. BE ALERT ALL THE TIME FOLKS.

[sandy]

I agree with you RAF Royal Mail most of the time is excellent. But it does depend on where you live. I have lived all around the UK and one or two areas the post took ages and others were excellent. Scotish post beats them all. Scotish postmen keep you up to date with all the gossip as well.

[teedoubleudee]

This one just arrived as an SMS message on my phone. It just shows how stupid these people are as it starts off pretending to be Royal Mail but then gives a link to Hermes

[lugworm]

Scambusters used to be the place to send your scam messages to. They would absolutely destroy the scammers, and post the results on their website.
If it's still going it's worth a read.

[RAF96]

A bit off topic but I like the guy(s) who have registered their username as customer support, customer services, etc and reply to social media wingers in exactly the way the real CS folk wished they could do, such as telling said winger to take a long walk on a short pier then plug their toaster in to see if the soaking had fixed it, etc.
Another was someone moaned about a size xx frock not fitting and the reply from CS was - what do you expect fatso you need a size xxxxxx.
Some hilarious banter, where the idiots can’t even work out they are being wound up.
Same basic principles apply to winding up these scammers.
My sort of humour.

[dtb]

A bit off topic but I like the guy(s) who have registered their username as customer support, customer services, etc and reply to social media wingers in exactly the way the real CS folk wished they could do, such as telling said winger to take a long walk on a short pier then plug their toaster in to see if the soaking had fixed it, etc.
Another was someone moaned about a size xx frock not fitting and the reply from CS was - what do you expect fatso you need a size xxxxxx.
Some hilarious banter, where the idiots can’t even work out they are being wound up.
Same basic principles apply to winding up these scammers.
My sort of humour.

eh?