Fears of parcel crime wave as Royal Mail plans 'massive jobs cuts' to its investigation unit

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 03 Sep 2018, 16:18

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/0 ... stigation/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Fears that Royal Mail parcels will be at increased risk from thieves and ID fraudsters were sparked on Sunday night after it emerged the postal service was planning cuts to "parcel police".

The Royal Mail's investigations department, which catches thieves and fraudsters intercepting parcels and letters, is facing "massive job cuts", inside sources told the Telegraph.

It comes despite a 51 per cent rise in the number of complaints to the Royal Mail about "disappearing parcels" over the past year from 89,219 in 2016/17 to a record high of 134,712 this year.

The total number of complaints about the postal service also topped a million this year, having risen by a fifth over the past four years,...

Meanwhile instances of ID fraud in the UK are close to record highs as a result of fraudsters stealing victims' details in order to impersonate them.

A string of job cuts in recent years has already led to a dramatic fall in crime detection by Royal Mail investigators, sources claimed.

Back in 2010 the department had a total of 257 staff, Freedom of Information Request documents show, however this number has since fallen by 40 per cent to 150 staff, Royal Mail admitted.

And a source claimed that now the department is about to "go through its biggest change ever, with massive job cuts". Consumer campaigners warned of "shockingly high" rates of missing parcels at delivery companies including Royal Mail, urging it to take necessary steps to keep parcels safe.

Alex Neill, director of home products and services at Which?, said: "With the growth in online shopping, delivery companies have become an essential - and often frustrating - part of our lives.

"People need to be confident that the delivery service responsible for their parcels has the resources and systems in place to ensure that it is handled securely and arrives safely and on time.

"According to our research, one in five people had a parcel go missing in a single month last year - a shockingly high rate of failure by delivery companies, including Royal Mail, that urgently needs addressing."

Sandra Peaston, director of strategy at fraud prevention organisation Cifas, said: “With more personal information available online, and increasing numbers of data breaches, the protection of personal data must be viewed as a collective responsibility.

“Everyone should play their part, from individuals and organisations taking steps to protect personal data to businesses, which includes the Royal Mail, ensuring their fraud prevention practices effectively defend against evolving tactics employed by identity fraudsters.”

An online job advert for 'Head of Investigations' at the Royal Mail posted in June appears to reveal that the department is going through significant restructuring.

The advert says applicants should have an "ability to manage people through significant change", stating that the job will involve "maintaining the professional development of the team to ensure sufficient resilience is available to meet fluctuating resource demands in relation to specialist, complex or covert investigation, or intelligence gathering requirements."

Royal Mail declined to comment on any future restructuring or job cuts but said the security of the mail was of "paramount importance" to Royal Mail. A spokesman said: "We make growing use of data analysis and intelligence gathering capabilities. This is further improving our ability to identify and take action to rectify problems, should they arise, in a more focused way."

Royal Mail is governed by Ofcom’s “Essential Condition” which means it must take reasonable steps to ensure the security of the mail. This means it has an obligation to reduce the risk of loss, theft and interference of parcels and letters.

Post by **Judgee** » 03 Sep 2018, 20:18

"According to our research, one in five people had a parcel go missing in a single month last year - a shockingly high rate of failure by delivery companies, including Royal Mail, that urgently needs addressing."

"including Royal Mail" but not exclusively based on RMs service. So how many of these missing parcels are down to the unregulated competition?

fishtank · Post by **fishtank** » 03 Sep 2018, 21:21

With the increased tracking of parcels it's now a lot easier to find out exactly where a parcel goes missing without even leaving your desk. Banking has moved online and now uses things like facial recognition and fingerprint scanning to deter identity fraud, Automation and technology are a bitch, now they know how we feel.

deltaforce · Post by **deltaforce** » 28 Sep 2018, 17:33

More parcels in circulation. More players in the delivery market. More parcels allegedly not arriving. Our non arrival figures are under regulatory scrutiny. The others are not. On a personal note, I’ve had one parcel go missing to my address in 40 years and that was left in a shared hallway, so it seems I must have been lucky.

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 28 Sep 2018, 17:40

Postladyamy wrote:How is there such a huge increase in parcels going missing when more of them have barcodes now?

The article says that the claims for missing parcels has increased, but they haven't broken the figure down into categories. I don't think there has been that much of an increase in parcels getting knicked, but there are more people claiming none receipt as part of a scam, or senders using 1 bar code for multiple orders.

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 30 Sep 2018, 19:02

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
Postladyamy wrote:How is there such a huge increase in parcels going missing when more of them have barcodes now?
The article says that the claims for missing parcels has increased, but they haven't broken the figure down into categories. I don't think there has been that much of an increase in parcels getting knicked, but there are more people claiming none receipt as part of a scam, or senders using 1 bar code for multiple orders.

The one barcode on multiple items scam doesn't happen very often but I have had it happen quite a few times on my walk. In my experience instead of a parcel going missing it is more often the case that the parcel hasn't been posted yet. You can get a customer receive a parcel and then deny they have received the item but I hope there are not many people around like that.