19/05/04 - Postal Scam Warning

Cumbria residents are warned not to fall victim to a new scam.  The alert comes after Cumbria County Council’s Department of Trading Standards were contacted by three people who had had cards pushed through their letter box.  The card implies that the Post Office has received a parcel for them from overseas, and tells the householder to ring a telephone number to release it.  Parcel Plus, the company sending out these cards are not associated with the Royal Mail/Post Office.

Phil Ashcroft, Head of Cumbria Trading Standards, said:

“The card looks very official and could easily be mistaken as coming from the Post Office.  I very much expect that the value of the parcel will be less than the cost of the phone call”. 

Cumbria County Council’s Community Safety Spokesman, Jack Richardson, said:

“To call this premium rate telephone number costs £1.50 a minute, and the likelihood is that the duration of the call will be several minutes.  My advice to anyone receiving this card is to throw it away”.