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Has anyone else been hit by the stamp scam or know how to avoid it?
Been hit twice now in a week with valid stamps on 1st class letters (one letter one small A5ish birthday card) being marked as fee to pay. Post Office said they have instructions to continue selling non bar-code stamps till October and Royal Mail seem to be randomly withholding letters to be issued with fees.
Both were posted in postboxes but the local PO confirmed the one I showed was correctly stamped and fits as "small letter" and they would have put the exact same 1st class on ...
It's only £2.50 on top of the 90p for the stamp but they must be raking it in and I can't see any way to avoid it.
Thanks for posting. Barcode stamps and the doing away with the old ones totally passed me by until now. Link for info for anyone who didn't know this: https://www.royalmail.com/sending/barcoded-stamps
TBH it's currently the inconvenience of having to pay and the delay whilst it's only 2 letters.
Both were delayed over a week and both had perfectly valid stamps on. The PO said they have been instructed to keep selling non barcoded stamps until October and confirmed the correct stamps were on and had they been handed over in the PO they would have put the exact same stamps on.
I dont understand, the link posted above says that the old style will be "still be valid until 31 January 2023", so why are they issuing the fee to pay notifications now?
I had one this weekend, paid the £1.50, no idea what it is as its not been delivered yet.
Ofcom complaint needed
This makes it all the more stupid - if they can keep using non-barcoded stamps beyond end Jan they could just let people use up whatever they have (and stop selling more)
: Special Stamps with pictures on and Christmas Stamps without a barcode will continue to be valid and don't need to be swapped out.
As far as I can see they all have a picture on - of the queen
Milese
I dont understand, the link posted above says that the old style will be “still be valid until 31 January 2023”, so why are they issuing the fee to pay notifications now?
I had one this weekend, paid the £1.50, no idea what it is as its not been delivered yet.
I think you answered your own question ... ???
You had something sent and until you pay £1.50 you don't know what it is so you just pay... (are you sure its £1.50 as both mine were £2.50 I know it's only another pound as a one off but they must be raking it in as its a bit over 2.5x the cost of a normal 1st class letter and they get to delay it a week on top)
b33k34
This makes it all the more stupid – if they can keep using non-barcoded stamps beyond end Jan they could just let people use up whatever they have (and stop selling more)
I think it's simply a variation on existing scams... it's really only notable as it's Royal Mail (I got 2 fake Evri texts as well in the last couple of days for example)
It's like they got loads of scams of people pretending to be Royal Mail and thought .. "hey we could pull that same scam". People will pay because they don't know what's in the letter and it looks legit as the postie delivers it but won't take it further because its only £2.50"
Lady that runs the PO say's she has specific instructions to continue selling the non-bar coded (I think I understood from my mum she actually has the bar coded ones but isn't allowed to sell them ???)
Its £1.50 for insufficient postage paid, and £2.50 for no postage paid.
https://www.royalmail.com/receiving-mail/pay-a-fee
I don’t understand. Your post office is saying that some of your letters are incorrectly stamped? You pay the fee and get the letter then ask them and they say actually it’s ok.
Is it definitely the PO that is levying the charge?
How have they been contacting you to ask for this additional money?
I don’t understand. Your post office is saying that some of your letters are incorrectly stamped? You pay the fee and get the letter then ask them and they say actually it’s ok.
Is it definitely the PO that is levying the charge?
Royal Mail are levying the charge as they say the postage is 'wrong'. Post office (separate company of course) are saying the stamps they are supplying are still valid for postage.
Sounds like an overzealous Royal Mail employee is enforcing the rules befor they actually come into effect.
I run a postoffice - the non barcoded stamps are valid until Jan next year as stated above. After which you can swap them over to the new barcoded versions FOC.
All postoffices have been instructed to sell non barcoded stamps until they run out of stock as instructed by royal mail and all are still valid. We've not been issued many of the new barcoded versions yet and won't be until stock of the old ones runs out at a guess or until Jan.
One of the big reasons the barcoded versions have been introduced is to reduce fraud and fake stamps - I'd guess that the letters were probably sent with fake stamps, which the system has highlighted and charged £2.50 for no postage paid, @stevextc where did you buy the stamps from? Or were the letters sent to you? Where did the sender get them from?
Surprisingly to many its easy to buy fake stamps online - if your buying a first class stamp book and they cost less than 95p each then chances are they are fake. I don't think RM can destroy the item as it's not their property so they send the postage charge to the recipient.
Special Stamps with pictures on and Christmas Stamps without a barcode will continue to be valid and don’t need to be swapped out.
They are more difficult to fake and general less of them on the open market. Also theres a massive market for collectable stamps which I'd guess RM don't want to loose by putting qr codes on a third of the stamp.
(I think I understood from my mum she actually has the bar coded ones but isn’t allowed to sell them ???)
Not until she's sold her stock of old non barcoded stamps. Then she moves to the barcoded versions.
monkeyboyjc
Sorry this is a bit mixed but have to use my phone …
“where did you buy the stamps from? Or were the letters sent to you? Where did the sender get them from?”
It was my mum but I’ll ask her to double check
They were delivered by Amazon but she’s convinced it was the Royal Mail official shop (I checked and it looks legit especially as when I looked it’s now selling barcoded ones) but could easily be she fell for a scam one (I’m amazed she bought online at all)
The other letter was sent to my cousin (who’s actually my mums age and retired) but he worked for Royal Mail for years (it’s his birthday the same week and my mum has sent him a letter every year for 6 decades or so) I take after my mum 😉 so I was asking her If she’d written war and peace but she said it was just a single A4 in a 3 fold envelope (she sent the pic to me he sent to her)
He was pretty pissed and went to the Burnley sorting office where he used to work (as he still knows loads of people) and they couldn’t find anything wrong with his stamp (apparently) he was a bit paranoid someone he knew had done it as a joke so I was taking that with a pinch of salt..
I was actually with my mum when he called her which is why I called her when we got the late birthday card after the £2.50 charge to tell him it wasn’t just him
I then asked her where she got them and to take them to the PO and ask
she lives in a small village with one shop like yours and knows the po / shop owner well and she thought they were all legit (she even showed my mum the new barcoded ones - I wasn’t sure if I should mention that earlier as I wouldn’t want to get the po owner in trouble)
She also said she had heard of lots of others so ???
The evidence does point towards fakes though as she posted 3 letters at the same time and one arrived normally and 2 didn’t .. I spoke to her earlier and she said she’d only used 2 of the stamps (that’s when I said go to the po and ask)
Sorry for the broken up text … my phone is just not happy with STW and jumps about
They were delivered by Amazon
Id bet a fair wedge of cash that that was a fake stamp then, RM don't sell stamps on Amazon - tell your mum she may as well bin the others as they may also get flagged. Unfortunately it seems it's your mum who was scammed not you. Best thing is to take a view that any traditional red first class stamp being sold online, that is less than 95p, Is fake.
The other one sent by your cousin is a bit different, you could try to get the £2.50 back but tbh I'm not sure of the process - and it'll prob cost you more than £2.50 in time and phone calls.
I think the basis of the confusion here is that I have no bloody clue what is a scam in this. Are you suggesting the RM are operating a scam, whereby they withold a letter to see if you'll pay a fee, only to say "LOL, joke's on you, that one was fine"...? Given that isn't what they're doing, it would appear not to be a scam, but there must be some reason they're being withheld, at which point it isn't a scam, you just don't understand why it's happening.
Sounds like your mum has bought some dodgy stamps. Do they have any 'security' features at the moment? I've always assumed they're just bits of coloured sticky paper.
Surprisingly to many its easy to buy fake stamps online – if your buying a first class stamp book and they cost less than 95p each then chances are they are fake.
People buy books of stamps online? Why? You can buy books of stamps in all sorts of high street shops! 🙄
You can buy all sorts of stuff online. It’s amazeballs. You should try it.
Not the fake stuff though, that’s rubbish.
People buy books of stamps online? Why?
Because they can be as little as a third of the price in the postoffice. However are generally fake and get picked up by RM. The cheaper they are the more likely hood they are fake.
Do they have any ‘security’ features at the moment?
Some, types of paper and ink, embossing and water marks on higher value stamps. Hence the introduction of one time use barcoded stamps - the barcodes are unique and also help to stop the reuse of stamps and backed up by current UV franking.
Thinking about it with UV franking - @stevextc could the other letter you had a charge on may have been a used stamp? The current franking method shows no franking marks, so only way to check is with a UV pen.
monkeyboyjc
Id bet a fair wedge of cash that that was a fake stamp then, RM don’t sell stamps on Amazon
That was what I thought but this is either a VERY good fake or we were both mistaken.
could the other letter you had a charge on may have been a used stamp? The current franking method shows no franking marks, so only way to check is with a UV pen.
it's possible but I think unlikely .. certainly not something my mum would do knowingly.
The current franking method shows no franking marks, so only way to check is with a UV pen.
An aside from my mum's stamps but doesn't it strike you as odd or not very well thought out that obvious effort and cost has been put into franking the consumer can't actually see? The letter sent to my cousin has printed visible inks with "Lancs and S. Lakes" and another all about the new "barcoded stamps"
That was what I thought but this is either a VERY good fake or we were both mistaken.
it might be a good fake, but if royal mail can pick up that they're fake, then thats fair enough.
If you're buying 24 stamps for £14 off amazon, then you should expect them to be fake.
An aside from my mum’s stamps but doesn’t it strike you as odd or not very well thought out that obvious effort and cost has been put into franking the consumer can’t actually see?
That is pretty weird - I can see the logic of having something invisiable in addition to a visible franking mark but its a bit of an odd move to have it instead
I think it’s simply a variation on existing scams… it’s really only notable as it’s Royal Mail (I got 2 fake Evri texts as well in the last couple of days for example)
I think the basis of the confusion here is that I have no bloody clue what is a scam in this. Are you suggesting the RM are operating a scam, whereby they withold a letter to see if you’ll pay a fee,
I think the issue is there are two things in play here and people are confused. There are a stack of scams about with texts linking to fake sites asking for payment before delivery (I had an EVRI one yesterday). They're pretty believable at the moment due to charges to pay on deliveries from overseas suddenly being common post Brexit.
Also, there are fake stamps around being put on letters that Royal Mail are picking up on and charging for
Thirdly, stamps are being replaced with barcoded ones but that shouldnt' be an issue yet as the standard ones are still valid and still being sold
njee20
I think the basis of the confusion here is that I have no bloody clue what is a scam in this. Are you suggesting the RM are operating a scam, whereby they withold a letter to see if you’ll pay a fee, only to say “LOL, joke’s on you, that one was fine”
Well some-one is operating a scam... maybe it's collusion and the PO and RM are both milking it??
Maybe you/we forgot that The Post Office (Management not the person working in your local PO) is already known (and proven by an independent public statutory Inquiry) to be institutionally corrupt and management had no problems ruining the lives (and in several (4) cases ending the lives) of its employees and their families to cover up a known IT error...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-office-horizon-it-inquiry-2020
Buying cheap stamps on Amazon is - at best - naive. Though it's Amazons fault for allowing it to happen of course.
It's like buying reduced tenners and expecting those to be real.
That was what I thought but this is either a VERY good fake or we were both mistaken.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/stores/RoyalMailStampsandCollectibles/page/A1277EB3-F264-48AC-86F1-1D18FC1782DA?ref_=ast_bln
/blockquote>If you follow the product links until you can actually buy something, it seems that some of the the items on that page, at least, are sold by 'Shopuk Online'
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?me=A2JLL3B1OQT1HO&marketplaceID=A1F83G8C2ARO7P
It's downright fraudulent.
Always read the reviews
"These are not Royal Mail stamps. They may seem like a bargain but tear when you try and peel them out of the booklet and if you do manage to peel one off intact, it does not stick properly. I wish I had read the reviews warning of this before purchasing."
Amazon is full of counterfeit stuff. Complain to the store and you should at least get the purchase price back
Well some-one is operating a scam… maybe it’s collusion and the PO and RM are both milking it??
The scam is with the seller on Amazon, not RM or PO.
The PO horizon issues are a huge scandle, but we're an employer/employee issue not a consumer scam which is what you suggest this is.
Its not just Amazon though.....
Feedback on the above stamps is filled with the fact they are fake, but the seller is still there, with 2000+ feedback.
Hense the introduction of the new barcoded versions - and the massive reduced price on the fake ones as the seller desperately tried to get rid of stock before January.
It’s like buying reduced tenners and expecting those to be real.
exactly - its not like you a purchasing a small adhesive sticker for 95p for the fun of it or because you really love silouettes of the queen, you are paying for the service of postage, via the admittedly rather Victorian method of attaching your proof of payment to the top corner of your letter.
I dont understand, the link posted above says that the old style will be “still be valid until 31 January 2023”, so why are they issuing the fee to pay notifications now?
I had one this weekend, paid the £1.50, no idea what it is as its not been delivered yet.
To follow up on my post above, the letter was delivered today and the sender hadnt added enough postage, so a completely legitimate case of RM charging the additional £1.50, in my case.
monkeyboyjc
The scam is with the seller on Amazon, not RM or PO.
The PO horizon issues are a huge scandle, but we’re an employer/employee issue not a consumer scam which is what you suggest this is.
Its not just Amazon though…..
I get what you're saying about Horizon however it illustrates how corrupt RM management are.
It appears to me that RM and/or PO would have an open and shut case against Amazon if they wished and this could be closed down tomorrow but instead they are happier to get £2.50 for a letter than 95p.
From a group of execs and management who would rather commit serial perjury and submit known false accounts to put their employees in prison I don't imagine they are losing much sleep deriving a few pensioners and vulnerable groups of their money. (see quote below)
It's like they know about the scam but are making more money charging £2.50 and doing nothing.
In particular, the Business Innovation and Skills Select Committee in its report on Stamp Prices on 2 March 2012 stated that that a key concern about any significant stamp price increase was the effect it would have on vulnerable groups.
Buying cheap stamps on Amazon is – at best – naive. Though it’s Amazons fault for allowing it to happen of course.
It’s like buying reduced tenners and expecting those to be real.
it might be a good fake, but if royal mail can pick up that they’re fake, then thats fair enough.
If you’re buying 24 stamps for £14 off amazon, then you should expect them to be fake.
They aren't cheaper though they are actually a tiny bit (3p) above face value... which you could assume is delivery?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Class-Stamps-Royal-Mail-Office/dp/B007V0ZP02?ref_=ast_sto_dp
Granted I wasn't buying, I just took a look at where my mum said she got them but obviously RM/PO and Amazon are all aware of this scam and collectively are doing nothing about it.
It appears to me that RM and/or PO would have an open and shut case against Amazon if they wished and this could be closed down tomorrow but instead they are happier to get £2.50 for a letter than 95p.
Firstly they are doing something, a very big something - introduction of barcodes on stamps.
Secondly It's nothing to do with PO, who are just a shop/outlet for RM at the end of the day.
Thirdly RM's fight on fraudulent stamps is with the sellers across numerous platforms, & not just Amazon and eBay, when one seller is shut down they just open up another. Hense the introduction of barcodes.
They aren’t cheaper though
The ones I've seen on Amazon are around £9.40 for 12 1st? So 79p a stamp approx and 15p less than a regular 1st from any shop in the country.
Bare in mind that retailer margins on stamp are less than 2% it couldn't even be argued that the seller is buying wholesale and undercutting.
Your anger should be with the dodgy sellers selling the fakes not RM and cirtainly not with PO.
It appears to me that RM and/or PO would have an open and shut case against Amazon if they wished and this could be closed down tomorrow
obviously RM/PO and Amazon are all aware of this scam and collectively are doing nothing about it.
Amazon give absolutely zero ****s. RM and PO are obviously motivated to act. But Amazon give zero ****s. They absolutely do not care. Go on amazon now - find something obviously dodgy - loads of feedback confirming it counterfeit - report it as such - go through the actual steps of reporting that listing as fraudulent as a customer, if you can work out how. Then report back.
If you go there today - and search 'stamps' - the first result - is promoted as 'best seller' despite the listing having absolutely zero feedback.
I know for certain that Amazon know that particular listing is for counterfeit products.... but its still there.
maccruiskeen
I know for certain that Amazon know that particular listing is for counterfeit products…. but its still there.
Go on amazon now – find something obviously dodgy – loads of feedback confirming it counterfeit – report it as such – go through the actual steps of reporting that listing as fraudulent as a customer, if you can work out how. Then report back.Amazon give absolutely zero ****.
^^chopped/copied and pasted ...
I don't need to do as you say because I know amazon don't give a toss what me or you report. They know full well that you or I don't have the resources to take them to court over this.
They should however give a toss if served by the legal council for someone like RM or the PO????
monkeyboyjc
Firstly they are doing something, a very big something – introduction of barcodes on stamps.
That's hardly a BIG something nor do they seem in any rush? TBH they don't seem to be trying very hard... why not just exchange all current stamps for barcoded ones? (They can't cost 1p each?)
Your anger should be with the dodgy sellers selling the fakes not RM and cirtainly not with PO.
I guess another way to see this is Aldi don't seem to be doing much about the "Aldi Scams" either... which seems quite analogous. Both FB/Amazon know these are scams
FB are doing less than nothing ... but I'm equally surprised Aldi isn't taking legal action against FB.
Secondly It’s nothing to do with PO, who are just a shop/outlet for RM at the end of the day.
Fair point
Thirdly RM’s fight on fraudulent stamps is with the sellers across numerous platforms, & not just Amazon and eBay, when one seller is shut down they just open up another. Hense the introduction of barcodes.
I'm sticking my neck out perhaps but I'd bet Amazon makes up a very large percentage.
They must also be fully aware its a scam... along with breaches of copyright and a whole load of other stuff...
Perhaps I'm naïve but surely RM can just serve some legal action on Amazon UK ???
I’m sticking my neck out perhaps but I’d bet Amazon makes up a very large percentage.
Around 40% margins iirc.
“These are not Royal Mail stamps. They may seem like a bargain but tear when you try and peel them out of the booklet and if you do manage to peel one off intact, it does not stick properly. I wish I had read the reviews warning of this before purchasing.”
All the stamps that I buy from Post Offices do this, so it's not a reliable means to judge.
Just because there isn't a visible bar code on a stamp doesn't mean it hasn't been recorded going through the system (ie a UV-visible QR code or similar). They can look superficially fine if someone is prepared to reuse them.
Around 40% margins iirc.
I totally believe that.... what I meant though was amazon probably makes pp a large margin of the fraudulent sale of UK stamps... and probably a much higher percentage of people (like my mum) who think "must be legit because it's amazon"
I can't see my mum buying off a dodgy eBay seller for example... and she wouldn't buy if she thought they were fraudulent/fakes even if she thought she'd get away with it. (She has no problem not securing her dog in the car... fake stamps I'd say not on your nelly)
what I'm missing is why RM don't take legal action against Amazon?
then again I'm puzzled why Aldi don't take action against FB ??? (I'm assuming you saw the FB scams pretending to be Aldi here) .. I'm missing something maybe as you'd think Amazon would be worried - I know they're massive but even so?
what I’m missing is why RM don’t take legal action against Amazon?
While they are at it why is Amazon able to send electrical equipment which doesn’t meet British (or the previous European) minimum standards. Free trade is a wonderful thing.
I think action is taken against the stores; most of the ones on amazon don't appear to have lasted very long, but I guess its a bit like whack-a-mole (wait for complaints, kill the shop, it'll just pop up again)