Gangs recruiting postal workers to steal bank cards and Pin numbers
POSTAL workers are being offered £1,000 a week to steal bank cards and Pin numbers being delivered to customers, an investigation has found.
Criminal gangs are placing advertisements online, offering cash to Royal Mail staff willing to intercept letters from banks. Last year, more than 11,000 people reported having bank and credit cards lost or stolen in transit, and figures show that between 2007 and 2011 almost 1,800 postal workers were convicted of theft.
In another alleged scam, Royal Mail workers are suspected of stealing cash sent through the post to the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA). A freedom of information request submitted by The Daily Telegraph discovered that between 2010 and 2016, 184 fines sent to the DVSA’S processing centre in Swansea were either “lost or stolen” in transit.
An undercover investigation by the BBC’S Inside Out West Midlands programme found evidence of gangs offering large sums to postal workers willing to engage in criminal activity.
One alleged gang member claimed the scam had been in operation for more than 30 years, with many Royal Mail workers on the payroll. He told the undercover journalist: “If you open up a new account you’re going to get your card and you’re going to get your Pin, right? Two letters, that’s all it is. We do that, you intercept the letters, bring them back to us, you get paid.”
The Royal Mail refused to comment on how many of its workers had been prosecuted for stealing mail since it was privatised in 2013. However, figures showed that in the four years up to 2011, 1,759 Royal Mail workers were convicted of theft.
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We take all instances of fraud – alleged or actual – very seriously. Our security team is reviewing the programme’s findings as a matter of urgency. The safety and security of mail is of the utmost importance to Royal Mail.”