THINK JESSICA - DON'T BE A SCAM VICTIM

[TrueBlueTerrier]

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Here's what it's all about.

After Marilyn's mother was scammed out of around £50,000 Marilyn took the story to the media. She felt, and still does, that the Royal Mail had a duty of care to her mother.

Since then she has been inundated with other stories from scam mail victims and their families. Some victims are delivered up to ONE HUNDRED scam letters a day by the Royal Mail. Others have sold their homes and changed their wills at the request of the scammers.

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http://www.thinkjessica.com/?cat=17" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some truly shocking stories of people and families affected by scam mail.

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Scam Mail Photos http://www.thinkjessica.com/?page_id=227" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Worth a look through - I recognise some of them as those that I have delivered on my duty

[DGP1]

TBH I've seen nearly all of them and the worst thing is that I deliver the majority to only a handful of houses, I know what they are but I'm not allowed to send them away

[Caniel]

I remember a while back having to deliver these cards that said something like "We tried to call you but you were not at home, please call this number to arrange delivery" People used to come out of their houses thinking it was a form left card and ask me where the packet was. In actual fact it was a scam to get people to call the stupidly expensive number only to get cut off after 20 mins on hold.

[Lounge Lizard]

TBH I've seen nearly all of them and the worst thing is that I deliver the majority to only a handful of houses, I know what they are but I'm not allowed to send them away

Yes, only to two houses on my walk, one on an almost daily basis the other less often.
Everyone should remember the old saying - if something looks too good to be true it almost certainly is too good to be true.

[NWpostie]

TBH I've seen nearly all of them and the worst thing is that I deliver the majority to only a handful of houses, I know what they are but I'm not allowed to send them away

Yes, only to two houses on my walk, one on an almost daily basis the other less often.
Everyone should remember the old saying - if something looks too good to be true it almost certainly is too good to be true.

Like one poster said, I get on some day 10-20 such letters, to a couple of houses, they always wait by the door for and they are not the sharpest tool in the box, they have even been warned about them, but they don't listen.

Sad but its their choice and money, some people like me with a nose for bullshit would bin them, I haven't got any scam letter for years and this is without using the mail preference service, I see it as them paying Royal Mail ergo my wages without me paying anything to them, mind if everybody did that the whole thing will soon stop as its unproductive, it must cost money to print and send all thses letter so they must be getting a good return to perpetuate the system.

[Sippin40oz]

I also see a lot of the same mail as on the photos Makes me sad that these scammers are sending out these letters knowing that only the most vulnerable people will fall for them and line the scammers pockets. Not only are these scammers running fraudulant businesses blantantly in the open by judging by the 'mailsort' logos Royal mail are even giving them a discount on their mail!

Do others think that Royal Mail should introvene in some way and not accept mail from companies that are proven scammers? Could be difficult i guess as everyone should be allowed access to the post. Surely Royal Mail could at least say to know scammers your not allowed into the 'mailsort' scheme and no franking machines. That way there would be no discounts and the mail would look less proffessional at least....

[TrueBlueTerrier]

I also see a lot of the same mail as on the photos Makes me sad that these scammers are sending out these letters knowing that only the most vulnerable people will fall for them and line the scammers pockets. Not only are these scammers running fraudulant businesses blantantly in the open by judging by the 'mailsort' logos Royal mail are even giving them a discount on their mail!

Do others think that Royal Mail should introvene in some way and not accept mail from companies that are proven scammers? Could be difficult i guess as everyone should be allowed access to the post. Surely Royal Mail could at least say to know scammers your not allowed into the 'mailsort' scheme and no franking machines. That way there would be no discounts and the mail would look less proffessional at least....

Should they - yes
Will They - Of course not they make money from it and as we are no longer a service but a profit hungry, bonus busting, home for incompetent managers - profit is king.

[jonny123]

i have one old lady that lives in a flat on my duty that used to get loads of these with a pic of some septic peg person on a coloured envelope prob between 5-20 a day, however i saw the scam on watchdog or simular and asked lino about it. his reply was to deliver and forget about it.

months went by then one day a younger woman was trying to gain access to the flat and i asked if i could be of assistance and and it turned out to be her daughter.

i presented her mothers mail to her and told her how to write "RTS" on the front and repost them.

next news was a redirection of all mail to the daughter and an influx of kill offs to do.

how rewarding, £20 at xmas for 2 years running too.

she does still get the odd one but they are always returned within the week.

RM really should have a duty to protect the public as its there funds that have propped us up from time to time but try telling moya greene that.

[andy2007]

Sadly. Until there's a change in the Law, there's nothing we or RM can do about it, once something has entered our system. And the scammers are operating outside the UK, where it's legal to run this type of scam. What I find sickening though, is that the Law HAS been changed in other Countries, to allow their Postal Services (yes, I know we're not a Public service anymore, we're a Business. But we still provide a service!). To stop delivery of suspected scams, until they can be checked. And even worse. RM are a partner in Spring Global, along with TNT. And Spring Global is the company which actively looks for this type of Customer (the Scammers), and even provides them with a UK reply address, so people won't get suspicious. Because there's a lot of profit in it.

All we can do, is warn the people we deliver to, if we suspect that they're recieving Scam Letters. And even THAT could lead to disciplinaries if we're caught doing so. Because we'd be interfering in the delivery of those items.

[supermum1958]

My Mum, 82, now spending around £300 a week on these postie-delivered scams - she trusts them because the Royal Mail deliver them. I have been advised to get the postie to call the IB about them. Would this help? I suspect not. Envelope markings are TNT, UK Mail, and quite often an lower case 'm' on blac, on the left, with Royal Mail postage paid GB and a HQ number. Contents come from Australia, Belgium, Samoa.... have talked and talked to Mum about it, but the scammers are tuned in to elderly psychology and the huge prizes they have 'certainly' won dazzle them, while their forgetfulness means they lose sight of how much they're spending.

[DGP1]

My Mum, 82, now spending around £300 a week on these postie-delivered scams - she trusts them because the Royal Mail deliver them. I have been advised to get the postie to call the IB about them. Would this help? I suspect not. Envelope markings are TNT, UK Mail, and quite often an lower case 'm' on blac, on the left, with Royal Mail postage paid GB and a HQ number. Contents come from Australia, Belgium, Samoa.... have talked and talked to Mum about it, but the scammers are tuned in to elderly psychology and the huge prizes they have 'certainly' won dazzle them, while their forgetfulness means they lose sight of how much they're spending.

TBH there's nothing IB can do about it, you could contact trading standards to try to get them to stop them if they're illegal or you could set up a re-direction for your mothers mail to go to your house and you could separate the ordinary mail from the scam mail..............but your mother would have to agree to that.

[andy2007]

The only chances we have to protect the victims of these Scammers are: To tell them what's happening, and give any support we can, to help them cope with dealing with it (highly unlikley to work, as the Scammers are so good at what they do); and lobby the Government to change the Law, to enable RM to intercept, and remove the scam mailings, before they're delivered. That's what Think Jessica is all about. And in my experience, the majority of Posties fully support that. There were some problems in the early stages, as it wasn't commonly known that we would face prosecution, if we did that without a change in the Law. So we, as Posties were getting the blame for them being delivered. But once it became known that not only are we forced by Law to deliver anything and everything which enters the Postal system. But we're just as sickened by this as everyone else. That's changed. At least for those who know what's going on.

There are other Countries where their Posties are allowed to remove and report suspicious items of post, and have them investigated before delivery. But our Government are too busy counting the profits from delivering these scams, to want to make any real attempt to stop it. Because as Royal Mail hasn't been Privatised yet, our profits (and contrary to popular belief, we usually do make Millions in profits) go straight to the Government. I just hope that they can be convinced to do something about this dispicable situation, before we are Privatised. Or I can only see things getting worse.

The best advice I can give you, is to go to the Think Jessica Website, and tell them about your situation. And most importantly, see if there is anything you can do to help the campaign. There are far too many people facing financial ruin, at the hands of these scammers.

[capitalbiker]

May I just add that these concerns are shared in the PO network where we see customers coming in to buy postal orders to send off to these people, despite attempts to put them off they carry on and if they feel hassled over the issue at one office just go to another, perhaps RM Group could work with thinkjessica and produce some cards or similar that could be given/delivered to folks who appear to be at risk

capitalbiker

[TrueBlueTerrier]

by mseven » Today, 00:08 - Deleted in error

It might be an unpopular thing to say but you would have to be gullible to believe some of the scam post and if they have mental health issues they shouldn't be in charge of their money. It's not always possible to tell how many people are scammed because not everyone reports them.