ALL MEMBERS PLEASE READ THIS: POSTAL SCAM!

[espidog]

I've just received this email (see below) via a friend. Everyone please take note of the details. It's important.

Postal Scam

Can you circulate this around especially as Christmas is fast approaching? It has been confirmed by Royal Mail. The UK Trading Standards Office are making people aware of the following scam:

A card is posted through your door from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service) suggesting that they were unable to deliver a parcel and that you need to contact them on 0906 6611911 (a premium rate number).

DO NOT call this number, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.

If you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

If you do receive a card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655 or ICSTIS (the premium rate service Regulator) at www.icstis.org.uk

Obviously, the above info is intended for people in the UK, but as this is an international scam, it's likely something similar will be operating in the USA and other countries.

Cheers,
Ken

[jdogric12]

Dag you caught me!

[beatlefreak]

They never stop, do they?

[espidog]

Well, don't I look the fool. It turns out, this scam is 3 years out of date and has been stopped.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/pds-phone-scam.html

No harm being careful, though...

[cjj]

Just because it was stopped once doesn't mean someone won't resurrect it when they think enough people have forgotten about it...

[just_bassics]

Ken, you're no fool. These things are always a good reminder to check out any strange phone number online before you dial it. If someone tried it once, someone else will try it again.

[espidog]

CJ and Jim - you're right! Here's an email that a friend has just sent me in response to the warning:

"This one is true – one came through my door a month or two ago. It was green and yellow, if that helps. Luckily a) I wasn’t expecting a parcel and b) I was too lazy to follow it up, presuming that if there was a parcel I didn’t know about they’d get back in touch with me eventually! And needless to say I never heard from them again. So, unlike the usual YOUR COMPUTER IS ABOUT TO BLOW UP UNLESS YOU PUT YOUR PANTS ON YOUR HEAD hoaxes that people with not enough to do send round to scare poor bemused computer-users, this one is actually authentic."