The posties hate delivering them

POSTMEN forced to deliver letter frauds say they fear they will lose their jobs if they refuse or if their bosses learn they are warning elderly people about scam mail.

Speaking anonymously to the Daily Mail, postmen said they ‘hate’ being made to deliver the letters – which they are well aware are designed to con the vulnerable – but feel they have no choice.

One postman, in his 40s, routinely warns those on his delivery round about postal scams.

He said: ‘When I hand over these letters that are obviously a scam and the person is old, I try to warn them. I tell them to throw the letters in the bin. But if my bosses found out, I’d be sacked.’

He added that all his colleagues do the same, but make sure their bosses do not find out.

The postman, who has worked for the Royal Mail for more than 20 years, says he has come to ‘hate’ his employer. Another postman, who works in an area in the North West with a large elderly population, said he mentioned the problem to his boss, but he had refused to take action.

He said: ‘For them [Royal Mail], it’s a business, they’re getting paid to deliver it and that’s it. They’re not bothered.’

He described one particularly distressing case where he had to deliver a sack full of scam mail almost daily to a frail elderly woman in her 80s.

‘She would get so much rubbish, but I had to post it, I had no choice,’ he said. ‘I used to talk to her about it and she said she didn’t know why she was getting it.’

Royal Mail said: ‘We don’t want customers to be harmed by fraudulent mail. Royal Mail works with a range of partners to prevent any harm coming to customers as a result of postal scams.

‘We have run training sessions in conjunction with the National Trading Standards scams team for postmen and postwomen.’