Online shoppers are being urged to be extra vigilant in the run up to Christmas due to a number of parcel delivery scams which have seen victims tricked in to giving their bank details to fraudsters.
Derbyshire County Council’s trading standards have joined a call by other agencies including Action Fraud to warn online shoppers to watch out for the scams, which have recently seen cyber criminals posing as representatives from national delivery company DPD and the Royal Mail.
The scams take several forms, with the most common seeing fraudsters send an email or text which appears to be from a delivery company, for example DPD, urging customers to pay to reschedule a parcel delivery. The email or text will say that the company has tried to deliver a parcel but no one was home and there wasn’t a safe place to leave it.
Victims are asked to click on a link to rearrange the delivery, with the link taking unsuspecting customers to what looks like a genuine website.
People are then being asked to give their name and address, date of birth, mobile number and bank details so they can rearrange for the parcel delivery for a small fee.
By giving these details, the scammers then have all the information they need to access people’s bank accounts and clear them.
Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Health and Communities Councillor Carol Hart said: “Unfortunately these scams are ever-present and people fall foul of the fraudsters every day, so the more we can spread the message to people about not handing over bank details, double-checking who they are dealing with and being extra cautious the better.
“In the run up to Christmas more of us than usual are expecting parcels to be delivered and may not think to check the authenticity of a phone number, card through the door or email linking to a website, but it’s really, really important that we do.
“It’s a despicable crime and those affected can be left extremely distressed and anxious, and it can also have dire financial consequences if scammers get hold of bank details.”
If you think you may have been the victim of fraud, you should contact your bank as soon as possible, and also report this to Action Fraud by calling 0300 123 2040 or online at the Action Fraud website
For advice on scams and other consumer issues you can contact Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 0808 223 1133 or at on the Citizens Advice website.
If you have received an email which you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS): report @ phishing.gov.uk
To find out more about scams relating to DPD, and information from the company, to go the DPD website.