Royal mail phishing and smishing scams have become even more prevalent during the pandemic as many more people started to buy items online for delivery.

Phishing is where the scammer pretends to be from a trusted organisation such as Royal Mail, in order to get confidential information from the victim. This is usually by email or telephone. Smishing is the name for this when done through text messages.

These eight arrested men used a scam where they sent out floods of text messages to people pretending to be from Royal Mail, telling the recipient that a package was due for delivery but a fee needed to be paid first.

Anyone clicking the link in the text ended up at a fake website which steals their confidential information and passes it to the scammers, who may then be able to empty their accounts.

These eight men were arrested over a large scale smishing operation.

As with many scams, most recipients will know to delete the messages, but when done on a large enough scale, the scammers make money.

Recently, researchers have estimated a more than 600% increase in this type of scam related to Royal Mail.

Police officers from the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU) tracked and arrested the eight men following an extensive operation. DCPCU is a specialist unit of the City of London and Metropolitan Police and they conducted a series of early morning raids across London, Coventry, Birmingham and Colchester.

The DCPCU is funded by the banking and cards industry and they managed to recover numerous customers’ financial details, enabling these bank accounts to be protected.

DCI Gary Robinson, who leads the DCPCU, said “The success of these operations shows how through our close collaboration with Royal Mail, the financial services sector, and mobile phone networks, we are cracking down on the criminals ruthlessly targeting the public”.

If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.