First Xmas scam of the year

Xmas is fast approaching and so the first seasonal scam of the year is with us, confirmed by Royal Mail. The 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 661 and a few more numbers which we've deleted so nobody rings it by mistake.

Do not call this number on the card, as this is a mail scam originating from Belize.

Hard to believe, but we have been told that if you call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £15 for the phone call.

Surely it's not beyond the wit of man to stop all these premium line 0870, 0871 premium lines and this 0906 phone numbers. They are used by many companies' call centres and even by some government agencies such as the DVLA and can cost you at least 150% on top of a normal national UK phone call.

If you do receive a PDS card with these details, then please contact Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655 – hopefully that is not a premium rate number! 

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