Royal Mail and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) have warned royal mail customers about a new e-mail scam is circulating in users’ inboxes claiming to be sent from the postal service, though it is actually from fraudsters, City of London Police reported.
The subject of the e-mail is “Mail – Lost/Missing Package” and reads that the Royal Mail is holding a package for the user that has been detained for some reason, such as a lack of a bill of sale, a proper invoice, another document, a possible trademark violation or because the package needs a formal entry.
The e-mail also states that the RM International Mail Branch holding it will notify the user in writing about how the item can be released. After that, the e-mail asks the user to open an attached document and to fill out a form. It is believed that the attached form contains a zip file with a virus.
The postal service states that it will never send e-mails to ask customers for their credit card details or other personal or sensitive information. Also, it will never ask people to enter data on a page which is not part of the legitimate Royal Mail website, nor will it include attached documents unless the customer has contacted Royal Mail with an enquiry. The mail service also says that e-mail attachments will be included only if solicited by the customer and e-mails will only be sent if the user has signed for Royal Mail updates.
The Royal Mail said that it knows about the fraudulent scam and is taking all necessary action to protect its customers from cybercriminals.