Postmen to open scam letters in victory for Mail

ROYAL Mail has introduced rules to protect the elderly and vulnerable from letter frauds after the scam was exposed by the Mail.

In a major victory for this newspaper, the company unveiled new terms and conditions last night aimed at stopping fraudulent letters from being delivered under its bulk-mail contracts.

Conmen employ firms abroad to print millions of copies of their scam letters, which are carried to the UK by other companies before being sorted and put into the Royal Mail system for delivery.

Because they fall under Royal Mail’s bulk-mail contracts, they have the company’s branding on them and vulnerable victims believe they are genuine

But under the new rules, the firm will be able to open or refuse to deliver post believed to be part of a con – a measure that the Daily Mail called for.

Fraudulent mass mailings – aimed at elderly and vulnerable victims such as those with dementia – include fake prize draws and scam catalogues for illegal unlicensed medicines.

Victims have been conned out of vast sums through frauds carried out through the post, with some losing more than £100,000. Others have even lost their homes and been sent threatening letters saying they are at risk of harm.

Postal workers had told the Mail of their anxiety about having to deliver piles of letters they knew were designed to scam vulnerable people out of huge sums.

But the new terms say that if there is ‘reasonable suspicion that an item contains material that we consider to be scam mail or any other material, we may open that item, delay processing, refuse delivery and/or return the items’.

The identity of those suspected of sending such letters could also be ‘sent on to third parties’. Royal Mail has come under growing pressure since the Daily Mail revealed how the firm was making millions delivering scam post.

This newspaper revealed the conmen involved, with undercover footage showing how they boasted of ‘ripping off’ their ‘suggestible’ victims and openly traded ‘suckers lists’ of the most vulnerable.

In addition to getting Royal Mail branding on their envelopes, the firms involved also benefited from the company’s discounted bulk postage rates.

After the revelations, the Prime Minister warned Royal Mail it must do more to stop the practice, while MPs, campaigners and charities accused the company of ‘knowingly profiting from fraud’.

Royal Mail’s new rules, which will take effect from March 27, are designed to stop scam letters from the source and prevent them from reaching customers, bosses say.

The rules say: ‘You must not send items that contain scam mail or any other similar material, including but not limited to items or mail sent in furtherance of a fraudulent or criminal act, or which in our reasonable opinion is intended to deceive the recipient into parting with money or other assets.’

Royal Mail has also demanded that all operators sign an industry-wide code of practice and commit to working with regulators to help stop frauds.

This includes sharing information about companies that may be distributing scams, a move that some postal operators have resisted in the past.

Other operators are expected under the new code to refuse to do business with those found to be sending scam mail.

A spokesman for Royal Mail said the company introduced a process in November ‘to identify and stop scam mail entering the postal system from abroad’.

He said: ‘This process, which remains confidential to defeat the scammers, has enabled us to identify and return scam mail which would have previously entered the UK postal system.’

Two of Royal Mail’s biggest partners have signed up to the code of practice. One is Whistl, which the Mail found had been distributing thousands of scam letters.

The Royal Mail spokesman said last night it ‘took the Daily Mail’s allegations very seriously’, adding: ‘We understand the suffering that scam mail causes.’

‘Profiting from fraud’