The following chain letter has been distributed widely. The chain letter contains factual inaccuracies as a £15 telephone tariff does not exist.
According to ICSTIS (The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services), the chain letter does have some basis in fact however. A scam was operating in late 2005 which encouraged the public to dial a premium rate number that would charge them at £1.50 per minute. However, those numbers were closed down on 29 December 2005.
Of course, it is possible that other scammers could set up different premium rate numbers and attempt a similar fraud. Anyone who receives a suspicious communication is advised to contact ICSTIS.
The text of the chain letter reads as follows:
Please pass on...
Royal mail postal scam
This scam has been confirmed by our Royal Mail account manager
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 2396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at
https://www.icstis.org.uk, or your local trading standards office.
Important
