Now Border Force pledges major fake stamps crackdown

BORDER Force has promised a crackdown on fake stamps after royal Mail accused it of failing to stop counterfeit versions entering Britain from China.

The home Office said that Border Force will take ‘concerted action’ to stop counterfeit stamps from crossing international borders, after a senior royal Mail executive suggested that more should be done to stop the stamps coming from abroad.

Earlier this week the Mail revealed that fake stamps are entering Britain from China on an ‘industrial scale’, leaving victims with a £5 penalty to collect their post.

It is understood that convincing copies, sold for just 4p each, are being purchased by small retailers, who do not need to buy stamps directly from royal Mail and can instead order them online or from wholesalers.

This newspaper easily found four large Chinese suppliers advertising sheets of fake stamps online, with the capacity of up to a million counterfeit stamps a week and delivery to Britain within days.

The accusations have sparked a diplomatic row as Chinese officials said the claims were ‘baseless’, adding that royal Mail should investigate its own supply chain.

A home Office spokesman told the Mail yesterday that it does not tolerate the sale of illegal products including stamps, adding that it will ‘work closely with law enforcement partners to share intelligence’.

he said: ‘Border Force will take concerted action to stop them crossing our borders by detecting and seizing harmful goods and supporting law enforcement to dismantle the criminal gangs that attempt to smuggle them in.’ MPs have, however, expressed concern that royal Mail is deferring responsibility without pledging to conduct an investigation into its own operations.

Yesterday former Post Office minister Paul Scully told the Mail that royal Mail cannot leave Border Force alone to investigate this issue.

he said: ‘royal Mail needs to be open and stop passing the buck. Before royal Mail passes the problem to Border Force it has got to explain why counterfeit stamps have suddenly become a problem.’

In a letter to the company’s chief executive Martin Seidenberg yesterday, post office minister Kevin hollinrake suggested royal Mail ‘redouble’ its efforts to ‘investigate the source of counterfeit stamps, prevent their sale and hold those responsible accountable’.

A royal Mail spokesman said: ‘royal Mail takes the illegal production of counterfeit stamps seriously. The introduction of unique barcodes and added security features has made it harder for fraudsters to replicate stamps. As a result the number of counterfeits has reduced by about 90 per cent.’

‘Copies sold for just 4p each’

1 Hold the stamp up to a light source to see whether the surface is shiny. A bright sheen can be a sign that it has not been printed on official paper 2 Look at the colour to check for inconsistencies. Fakes are often fainter than real ones or inconsistent in colour, according to the Royal Mail 3 Check for shiny text across the stamp and King’s head. On counterfeits this text will often be dull or non-existent. Watch out for faint cancellation marks across the surface, which are added to the top of the stamp when it has been used 4 Examine the security ovals on each side to see if they have been damaged or removed. Counterfeits often have missing security ovals or ones that are punched through the wrong part of the stamp 5 Avoid stamps which are sold in quantities other than 25, 50 and 100 or cost less than official Royal Mail prices. Counterfeit stamps are often sold in quantities of 55, 66 or 99