Royal Mail ‘failed to clamp down on fraud letter scam targeting the elderly’
The postal service is accused of failing to crack down on the scam, despite being warned repeatedly for more than a decade
ROYAL Mail has been accused of allowing fraudulent letters to be sent to vulnerable adults.
Fraudsters are sending letters with Royal Mail to elderly Brits under its bulk mail contracts, an investigation by the Daily Mail claims.
The postal service is accused of failing to crack down on the scam, despite being warned repeatedly for more than a decade.
Elderly victims are said to lose billions a year in postal scams after being targeted by a self-proclaimed “mafia” who swap “suckers lists” of people.
Scammers pay firms to bulk print letters, which are then sent to Royal Mail and posted through their system, it is alleged.
The letters are then delivered with the Royal Mail logo, which campaigners warn gives them a seal of authenticity.
Letters include messages from fake clairvoyants, prize-draw scams and illegal advertisements for unlicensed health remedies.
An undercover video by the Daily Mail shows conmen laughing at their “suggestible” and “uneducated” victims over lavish dinners.
A Royal Mail spokesman said the service understood “the upset and disquiet this kind of mail can cause”, but said it was illegal to open letters and doing so would raise serious privacy concerns.
He said: “Just as newspapers would never intentionally publish advertisements that promote defective goods or illegal activities, Royal Mail never knowingly handles scam mail.
“We simply do not want to handle scam mail or make any money from this terrible activity. That is why we cease to do business with these people as soon as law enforcement agencies alert us to scamming activity.”
The service said it has passed on the list of suspected companies supplied by the Daily Mail to its partners at the National Trading Standards’ scam team for investigation.
Baroness Ros Altmann, former minister of state for pensions, said it was shocking the Royal Mail’s “trusted brand” was being used to give credence to scam letters.
She said: “Many have grown up believing the Royal Mail is an official body, part of government, and would assume something that has its apparent seal of approval is bona fide.
“It is vital Royal Mail takes proper precautions to check the contents of bulk mailings, in order to help crack down on the scams that are causing so much misery to so many.”
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