HAVE WE TOLD YOU PHILATELY THAT WE’VE CONNED YOU?
ROYAL MAIL CRACK DOWN AS PRICES RISE Trade in dodgy stamps soars online
Crooks are cashing in by selling fake postage stamps ahead of tomorrow’s Royal Mail price rise.
The cost of first and second class stamps increases for the second time in almost a year by 2p to 67p and 58p.
But we found fake and used first and second class stamps for sale for less than half their face value.
The counterfeits, which experts believe mainly come from Turkey and China, are missing the crucial phosphor bands printed on real stamps. Some also don’t carry date and source codes within the background lettering.
The used stamps are unfranked and advertised as for collectors only – but head illegally back into circulation.
Royal Mail say they are clamping down on the trade and will investigate any cases reported to them.
In the meantime, consumers – in particular recipients of letters with used o r c ou nt e r f e i t stamps – are left to pay the price.
Letters with fake or reused stamps will not be delivered, and will be held by Royal Mai l unt i l the receiver pays £1.50 to collect it.
Even apparently unmarked stamps are detected by technology which can spot those which have been through the postal system twice.
We found an ad on eBay for 100 first class large letter stamps which appeared to be fakes.
It’s understood that Trading Standards officers in Scotland are also aware of fakes in circulation and are in dialogue with Royal Mail.
We also found uncancelled stamps on eBay with a current face value of £ 65 for £29.99.
Second class stamps were described as “blue security stamps” and also available in batches of 100 for the same price.
Their face value is £ 56 today, which rises to £58 tomorrow.
They were described as “philatelic interest only”.
But stamp dealer and expert Ian Billings, who has collected stamps for more than 60 years, said: “These are sold for reuse.
“Who in their right mind is going to collect 100 identical f irst or second class stamps?
“The fakes we are seeing are on sale in corner shops Fakes are difficult to spot but the words ROYAL MAIL are printed in special ink across the surface of most stamps.
If these words are missing in modern-day red first class stamps, it’s a key indicator of a forgery.
If you look closely enough, you will find a source code or a year code within the letters.
M16L indicates those produced in 2016, for example, with M17L for 2017.
Check the perforations too. If a stamp is real it should be wavy-edged, as though it’s been cut with a cookie cutter. and online and are believed to come from China and Turkey.
“They are good copies but the fakers can’t get the phosphor strips right and Royal Mail use ultraviolet light to read phosphor and check stamps in centres.
“Royal Mail are doing more and more to try to protect their brand but the forgers are also doing more and more to keep up with them. It’s a vicious circle.
“It’s the addressee who pays if Royal Mail spot a counterfeit, and we all pay through higher prices when none of the price paid goes to Royal Mail.”
Royal Mail said: “We take any attempt to defraud us extremely seriously and wi l l actively investigate to find the source of the counterfeit stamps.
“If in doubt, report suspicious stamps to Royal Mail customer services for us to investigate.
“We recommend customers always buy their stamps from reputable approved outlets.
“Security features include die cuts within the body of the stamps, the words ‘Royal Mail’ printed in a special ink across the stamp and wider oval perforations along both sides, close to the base of the stamp.
“We also have bands of phosphor printed on the stamp for operational reasons and these are difficult to counterfeit.”
Rachel Jones, founder of brand protection firm SnapDragon, said: “Fraudsters use the latest technologies to create copies almost identical to the real deal, making it fiendishly difficult for the consumer to identify fakes.
“If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.”
An eBay spokesman said: “Counterfeits are illegal and not welcome on any of our sites.
“We are fully committed to combating the sale of counterfeit goods and have consistently been the internet industry leader in working to stop the online sale of counterfeit goods.
“We’re continually introducing proactive measures to combat the global trade in counterfeits.”