BEXLEY: Police crackdown on mass postal scams

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news ... tal_scams/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

BEXLEY pensioner John Flunder was chosen by the Met Police to help front its campaign against postal scams.

Mr Flunder, 80, editor of Bexley Pensioners’ Forum’s magazine, joined Detective Chief Inspector Nick Downing from the Met’s economic and specialist crime command and neighbourhood police from Bexley, to publicise Operation Sterling.

Scams delivered daily through people’s letterboxes cost the country £3.5 biillion a year, according to the Met.

Pensioners are particularly vulnerable and are frequently conned into handing over their life savings worth thousands of pounds.

Operation Sterling officers joined Brampton ward Safer Neighbourhoods policing team on their Visit a Street a Week initiative, knocking on doors to warn residents about postal scams.

The ward has a high proportion of elderly residents and the visit was to mark International Mass Marketing Fraud Awareness Day.

Mr Flunder said: “The nature of these frauds is really quite sad.

“People get taken in because the scammers can be so persuasive and persistent and our generation tends to be quite trusting.”

DCI Downing said: “This crime causes misery to victims and their families.

“Our advice is to never take anything at face value.

“These fraudsters make a living out of deceiving people and they will stop at nothing.”

He said by working with people who are targeted and educating them on the sort of scams to look out for, the Met hoped it would help to make mass marketing fraud a thing of the past.

Operation Sterling officers are also working with the Think Jessica organisation which provides advice to chronic victims of postal scams.

OPERATION Sterling offers the following advice to people: If you receive the offer of a prizes in the post or by email which looks too good to be true, it probably is; Don’t be drawn in by letters from people claiming to be clairvoyants or fortunetellers which is a well-tried method of getting people to part with their cash; Never send money to a stranger either via the post or through a bank transfer.

Other types of scams include fake lotteries and romances, share frauds and inheritance scams.

If you suspect you may have been a victim of mass marketing fraud, call the action fraud helpline on 0300 123 2040.

[Thunderthighs]

My widowed Dad, whos a pensioner, had apparently won a "free competition prize" run by a Big well known company.
( We deliver their catalogues all the time.)

It was an MP3 player worth £50 - 60 so they said. He was gonna give it away as a gift to someone, so wouldn't have used it himself.

When he tried to claim his "prize" he was told he'd have to pay £10 for packing/postage!!!

This was FREE prize, from a massive company, so...why the £10?

I told him to tell 'em to stick it up their butt.

Con, rip-off, fraud...or all of em?

[Lounge Lizard]

and some of these you've-won-a-big-prize circulars are now going out Recorded Delivery to make them look more genuine.

[Stormproof]

We had a load of mailsort Recordeds through the other week, manager collected them up off everyone, apparently a scam.

[DGP1]

We had a load of mailsort Recordeds through the other week, manager collected them up off everyone, apparently a scam.

If someone has paid for a recorded then they should've been delivered as such................it's not up to us to decide what to deliver.

[Thunderthighs]

If we deliver "scams/fraud" stuff, wouldn't that make us party to the eventual crime?
Same as storing stolen goods that you weren't aware were stolen? ( Ignorance of the Law is not excuse for innocence, apparently...)

If it's a known fact that the items are possibly going to lead to a crime, then as an upstanding organistion, then they should be removed from circulation.

How would it be it it was your parents, grandparents, kids or other relatives who were caught out by these genuine looking letters?

Innocent people have lost life-savings being taken in by these con artists, and they shouldn't be given the time of day.

[POSTMAN]

DGP is right,it's our job to deliver what comes in unless the Police,customs the IB tell us different.
And tbf even the Police can't do it unless they go through RM HQ.

[andy2007]

But you could always tell them about this: http://www.thinkjessica.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; It's an organisation which fights these kind of scams. We've discussed it on here before: http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... =6&t=13462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[brothermagrew]

Maybe so but there again what about young schoolkids and their yearly penchant for chainletters to one another. No postage paid but just as is their want pop it in to the nearest letterbox. Should we as posties just deliver them or draw our managements attention to them in the hope that they will at least put a surcharge of some sort on the item in question.