Category: Police&Security

The Metropolitan Police Cyber Crime Unit has seen a sharp rise in “Royal Mail” delivery scams over the last week or two.

Victims receive texts or emails purporting to be from Royal Mail claiming a package requires a small payment to be delivered. (along with other similar narratives)

Clicking on the link and providing your details leads to your money and/or identity being stolen.
Scammers send hundreds of thousands of these messages every day. Someone, somewhere, will receive one of these on the very day that they were expecting a parcel. The chances of a hit by the scammers is therefore extremely high. One moment of dropping your guard and clicking on a link is enough to make their day.

If you do click through accidentally then as well as compromising your device, the website may ask you for e.g. your date of birth to verify who you are before proceeding – having given up that piece of information to them they are then one step closer to your full identity.

There is a list of examples of some very convincing scam messages on the Royal Mail website – please make yourself familiar with these:  https://www.royalmail.com/help/scam-examples

Regards,
Dave Ludlow
Community Coordinator
Email: hillingdonnhw@gmail.com
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Please see the latest Eastcote newsletter from our neighborhood Police team:
Eastcote Newsletter

If you need to reply to anything in the newsletter please contact
Maz Solanki
Police Constable
Email: p236279@met.police.uk

Please be aware of a DPD scam that the Police Community Support team have been made aware of.

The scam involved an email being received apparently from DPD stating that they tried to deliver a parcel and that the link provided should be clicked on to update the delivery address and/or details.

There is apparently a reference number that is provided and text at the top of the email that reads:- “Important information regarding delivery of your order – ‘Payment receipt return’- ‘Item (Then there is a reference number provided)”

Under the text mentioned above a parcel number is provided directly under. The email has two parcel numbers that are different from each other.

When these parcel numbers are put in the official DPD site, they cannot be traced. The email also has inconsistencies with upper case and lower case letters.

Pease stay alert and do not click on any links provided if you receive a similar email to what has been mentioned.

If you need to reply regarding this message, tap on this email address: c091814@met.police.uk

Regards,
Gemma Robinson
Police Community Support Officer

Eastcote Police are reminding residents to stay vigilant following reports of scam text and email messages which appeared to be from parcel delivery companies.

The messages appear to be from couriers like DPD and Royal Mail, stating that they have tried to deliver a parcel and asking you to click a link to reschedule the delivery. The link directs you to an authentic looking website, which asks for your full name, address, date of birth and mobile number. Upon completion of the form, you are then asked to enter full credit card details.

In recent reports the fraudsters have gone a step further as they are calling victims who have passed on their details back some days after the first scam, claiming to be from the victim’s bank. The fraudster claims to be investigating the delivery fraud, saying that there has been an attempt to take money again and that they need to transfer their money to a safe account. Some of the victims have been scammed twice as the fraudsters are able to convince them they are genuine due to having all the original information from the first scam.

It’s important to check the details in the messages and make sure it is genuinely related to an item you have ordered.  Remember that a bank will never contact you and ask you to move money to another account.

Visit www.actionfraud.police.uk for advice on avoiding scams.
If you believe that you are a victim of this scam please report online to actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040.

Regards,
Gemma Robinson
Police Community Support Officer
Email: c091814@met.police.uk

Click on the MPS Response images to see the latest Hillingdon Crime Survey (June 2020) Images courtesy of Metropolitan Police