Royal Mail scam (UK)

[Lamp]

fyi:

Please all be aware of this confirmed by Royal Mail, especially as Xmas is fast approaching

The Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following SCAM:
A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number).

DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 0207 2396 655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk or your local trading standards office.

This is a genuine scam and is under investigation by ICSTIS.

 

[Will]

Thats true, apart from the charge, which is actually £1.50 per minute.

 

[Bahumat]

shit thats nasty!

thanks for informing us

 

[cHodAX]

For fucks sake Lamp, thanks for spoiling my Christmas fundraiser. Now mummy cHo is gonna have to do without those new Jimmy Chu shoes for Christmas and my nephew Terrence won't be getting that 40inch LCD! Way to go you law abiding do-gooder!

 

[tris-]

gogo trading standards. im a member of the institute!

 

[Vladamir]

For fucks sake Lamp, thanks for spoiling my Christmas fundraiser. Now mummy cHo is gonna have to do without those new Jimmy Chu shoes for Christmas and my nephew Terrence won't be getting that 40inch LCD! Way to go you law abiding do-gooder!

Rofl :worthy:

 

[chretien]

This isn't true.
Firstly you cannot be charged £15 just for connecting to a service for a few seconds. The maximum premium rate charge is £1.50 per minute and it's not possible to 'precharge' The only way you can spend £15 on a premium rate call is to stay connected for 10 minutes.

Secondly this is just a rehash of an older alert. On the ICSTIS site they have an advisory from October 2006 which says:

Parcel Delivery Service – Chain Email
It has come to our attention that a chain e-mail has been circulating the internet. It makes reference to the Royal Mail, the City of London Police and Parcel Delivery Services. ICSTIS appreciates that consumers want to find out more information about this alert and have issued the following statement:

During the Christmas period 2005, a number of people across the UK received cards from Parcel Delivery Services (a service run through a service provider called Studio Telecom). When ICSTIS were informed of the content and promotion of this service we invoked our Emergency Procedure - for details click this link - www.icstis.org.uk/service_providers/complaints/default.asp) and removed access to the service (operating on 20 numbers) on 29 December 2005. We do not believe that this service is operating again and have issued a statement to the industry to reiterate that they fulfill their responsibilities under our Code of Practice and ensure that any premium rate service running on their network abides by our regulation.
If you are invited to call a premium rate number (starting with the dialling code ‘090’) and believe there is a problem with the content, promotion or operation of the service then please call our Contact Centre for free on 0800 500 212. Our staff will be able to look up the number for you and give you any information we have about it. Alternatively, you can check a number yourself at www.icstis.org.uk/consumers/ncd/default.asp
This particular case will be adjudicated on as soon as possible. Until then, all the revenue will remain frozen and will not be passed on to the operator. Until then, we will not have details posted on the website as we need to publish the exact facts and final outcome.

The email you received referred to a £15 charge. This is in fact an urban myth. It is not possible for a £15 charge to be made on connection. We also have a number of measures in place in our Code of Practice to ensure that consumers are protected from unexpectedly high charges. Calls and texts cost a maximum of £1.50 per minute. The particular service referred to in the chain email used a recorded message which lasted a maximum of 6 minutes - making the total cost £9. Under the Code, all service providers must state clearly in promotional material the likely costs for calls to each service (either per minute or total charge inclusive of VAT).
It is worth remembering that the vast majority of premium rate services operate within the ICSTIS Code of Practice and cause no consumer harm. Sadly, a small number do and consumers should always inform us as soon as possible about these companies so we can investigate them in full.
To ensure you are protecting yourself, make sure you can recognise which numbers will incur a premium charge on your phone, always read the terms and conditions of promotions you are taking part in and if an offer looks too good to be true then it probably is.
For further information, please visit the consumer section of the website where we aim to answer your questions. www.icstis.org.uk/consumers/default.asp.
For our leaflet ‘Are you protected against premium rate scams?’ please click:
http://www.icstis.org.uk/pdfs_news/prs_protection_factsheet.pdf

I wish people would take two seconds to check this stuff before scaremongering and passing on bollocks.

 

[Lamp]

This isn't true.
Firstly you cannot be charged £15 just for connecting to a service for a few seconds. The maximum premium rate charge is £1.50 per minute and it's not possible to 'precharge' The only way you can spend £15 on a premium rate call is to stay connected for 10 minutes.

Secondly this is just a rehash of an older alert. On the ICSTIS site they have an advisory from October 2006 which says:


I wish people would take two seconds to check this stuff before scaremongering and passing on bollocks.

Scaremongering ! Yeah, this'll be front-page news. Don't be so melodramatic. I did what most other ppl do. Get a mail and pass it on. Like I'm REALLY gonna research it further before posting. Who the fuck does that. Oh wait.

 

[evzy]

Chretien it is a valid one - I had seen it a little while ago but it is currently still under investigation and the phone number is valid still so Lamp is right to warn peeps imo. Plus stating its an old alert when it was on the ICTS from October...2006..and Lamp posted it on the first of November doesnt mean they have stopped doing it cos its a new month.....

 

[chretien]

Scaremongering ! Yeah, this'll be front-page news. Don't be so melodramatic. I did what most other ppl do. Get a mail and pass it on. Like I'm REALLY gonna research it further before posting. Who the fuck does that. Oh wait.

It's fucking annoying for those of us who aren't easily led to get a billion messages a day from credulous friends who spam up boards or email lists passing on hoaxes. You even linked to the ICSTIS in your first post, if you'd followed your own link you'd have seen the first item on the 'latest news' list was them debunking this hoax. If you want to believe everything you read on the internet then that's your business, don't foist it on everyone else though.

Evzy, if you read the link, it says that 'they do not believe this service is operating again' so no, it isn't still valid.

 

[Lamp]

don't foist it on everyone else though.

Oh please.

 

[Corran]

It's fucking annoying for those of us who aren't easily led to get a billion messages a day from credulous friends who spam up boards or email lists passing on hoaxes. You even linked to the ICSTIS in your first post, if you'd followed your own link you'd have seen the first item on the 'latest news' list was them debunking this hoax. If you want to believe everything you read on the internet then that's your business, don't foist it on everyone else though.

Evzy, if you read the link, it says that 'they do not believe this service is operating again' so no, it isn't still valid.

And this bothers you so much you keep coming back to post things in the thread. Way i see it is hoax or not it does not matter. If the phone number listed is correct then it doesnt matter if 1) the charge amount is wrong (scam is a scam) and 2) they are currently inactive. They can easily just start up again and least people got a warning even if some the details are incorrect

 

[Heta]

I called it, but didnt get that £15 you say they promised

 

[Raven]

chill mates its nearly Christmas.

 

[Cadiva]

It's fucking annoying for those of us who aren't easily led to get a billion messages a day from credulous friends who spam up boards or email lists passing on hoaxes. You even linked to the ICSTIS in your first post, if you'd followed your own link you'd have seen the first item on the 'latest news' list was them debunking this hoax. If you want to believe everything you read on the internet then that's your business, don't foist it on everyone else though.

Evzy, if you read the link, it says that 'they do not believe this service is operating again' so no, it isn't still valid.

Think you're hugely overreacting. They don't believe the service is operating, that doesn't mean it isn't or that it might not start up again in time for this Christmas, just means they're unaware of it at this present time.

The fact they then go on to give out a shitload of advice anyway even though they don't think it's operating is a good enough reason to direct people to the site for information on what to do if they do suspect something is wrong.

Yelling and cursing at Lamp for posting something that's a possible heads up and, even if it doesn't operate, a good source of information in general for people who might use premium rate phone numbers, is a bit dumb tbh.

 

[evzy]

Here here - they "believe" its currently inactive - anyone here gonna phone it and check?

 

[Corran]

Just like to mention....

I actually heard about this on the radio today while at work during the hourly news a few times. So this is still a current issue it appears as they stated about the Company, the method and the costs.

But hey, its all just scaremongering right?!?