Parcel Delivery Service scam

The following chain letter has been distributed widely. The chain letter contains factual inaccuracies as a £15 telephone tariff does not exist.

According to ICSTIS (The Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services), the chain letter does have some basis in fact however. A scam was operating in late 2005 which encouraged the public to dial a premium rate number that would charge them at £1.50 per minute. However, those numbers were closed down on 29 December 2005.

Of course, it is possible that other scammers could set up different premium rate numbers and attempt a similar fraud. Anyone who receives a suspicious communication is advised to contact ICSTIS.

The text of the chain letter reads as follows:

Please pass on...
Royal mail postal scam
This scam has been confirmed by our Royal Mail account manager and is especially relevant as Christmas is fast approaching:

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number). DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize. If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call. If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 0207 2396655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk, or your local trading standards office.

If you receive this or a similar message, please do not forward it to your friends and colleagues. Forwarding unsolicited chain letters wastes time and bandwidth.