An urgent warning has been issued to Royal Mail customers regarding a scam that could see them lose a lot of money.
Fraudsters have set up fake chatbots that sign victims up for expensive subscription services without their knowledge, according to consumer watchdog Which?.
As reported by Hull Live, scammers have been sending emails that invite the recipient to 'start a chat' in order to trace a supposed delivery.
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The fake Royal Mail chat service then sends a delivery number and a photograph of a package, before explaining that the 'label was damaged' and convincing the victim to reschedule the delivery.
Those who click on the link the chatbot then sends are directed to a different website, on which their name, address, and payment details are asked for.
Reading the small print on this site reveals that inputting these details enters you into a ‘Skill Game’ and purchases a three-day trial to bilingua.net costing £2 then £59 every 30 days.
According to Which?, the form now promotes a new website called proplanner.io, which costs even more at £62 per month.
Speaking to the consumer champion, Bilingua.net said that the scam is an unscrupulous activity conducted by a company that joined its marketing program and gets paid per sale generated for bilingua.net.
A spokesperson for the company said: "We do not condone or approve the abusive behaviour by the affiliate in question.
"It is a gross violation of our affiliate terms and conditions and marketing code of conduct. We have marketing compliance procedures in place to ensure that such violations do not occur, but once in a while abusive affiliates do slip through."
Three customers in the UK have since received refunds from Bilngua.net.
A spokesman for Proplanner.io told Which?: "Upon detection we immediately notified the lead generator, from whom we buy our traffic. They confirmed that they would cease all relationships with this affiliate, and we haven’t detected irregularities since.
"We have furthermore blocked their IP address in our fraud detection system and taken other steps to make sure this affiliate or any successor doesn’t try to send us fake traffic in the future.
"As you can imagine, we are very unhappy with the situation, and reiterate that we have nothing to do with this party."
The Royal Mail has now explained how customers can discern a genuine correspondence from a scam:
- Royal Mail will only send email and SMS notifications to customers in cases where the sender has requested this when using our trackable products that offer this service.
- In cases where customers need to pay a surcharge for an underpaid item, Royal Mail leaves a grey ‘Fee To Pay’ card. It doesn’t for payment by email or text.
- The only time Royal Mail asks customers to make a payment by email or by SMS is in instances where a customs fee is due. In such cases, it also leaves a grey card telling customers that there’s a ‘Fee to Pay’ before releasing the item. This would apply either to an international customs fee or to a surcharge for an underpaid item.
Those who do have a fee to pay will not be asked to click on any links in text messages or email, and should instead visit the www.royalmail.com/receiving-mail/pay-a-fee webpage.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: "The security of our customers is a high priority for Royal Mail. On our website we offer advice and information on what customers should do if they receive a suspicious email, text message, or telephone call that claims to be from Royal Mail, or if they or discover a Royal Mail branded website which they think is fraudulent.
"This advice includes reminding customers to never click on a link in an email if they are unsure about it, especially if it asks for personal financial information like your bank details.
"We also advise customers never to send sensitive, personal information, security details or credit card numbers by email or text."
