She has also written to the Secretary of State of the relevant Government department urging him to act fast to bust the scam operation.
Ms Jones said: "A constituent brought this scam to my attention so naturally I wanted to inform as many constituents as possible and get the Government to act. This is not the usual 'get rich quick' scam. In this case, many people could lose hundreds of pounds by making what looks like a simple phone call to collect a parcel."
According to the MP, the "scam" is as follows:
A card is posted through your door purporting to come 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).
If you do call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call.
If you do call the number and you start to hear a recorded message you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call.
Ms Jones added: "Anyone receiving a card with these sort of details should call Royal Mail Fraud on 020 7239 6655 and Crime Stoppers. UK. on 0800 555 111.
"It's also really important that people are aware that the premium rate number may change so please do not call any number stated on a card from PDS
"Constituents are of course always welcome to contact me if they feel they have been the victim of a scam or have any other problem I can help with."
Someone needs to do a bit of basic research. This is a chain email with almost 10-year old information. From http://www.snopes.com/fraud/telephone/pds.asp :
ReplyDelete- The chain email refers to a service (operating on 0906 6611911) that was shut down by PhonepayPlus (then ICSTIS) in December 2005.
- PhonepayPlus subsequently fined the company that was operating the service, Studio Telecom (based in Belize), £10,000.
- The service is NO LONGER running and has NOT been running since December 2005.
Besides the outdated nature of the warning, the claim that "you will already have been billed £315 for the phone call" is absurd, and only serves to spread unnecessary fear and panic. There is no such thing as a premium rate number that charges £315 just to connect - it's someone ham-fistedly trying to type £15 and leaving their finger on the 3 key after having typed the pound sign (3 + SHIFT).
This is what a quick Google search came up with:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.actionfraud.police.uk/hoax-email-from-pds-parcel-delivery-service-nov12
I'm sure both of you are correct in terms of the history, but I think you'll find it's re-surfaced again with actual cards etc. I know the Police are taking it seriously. MP makes the point also that it isn't just about one Premium Rate Number, others can be used..
ReplyDeleteBut Scam seems to be back! See recent warnings from Police, Royal Mail, Age UK and others.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/Lincolnshire-Police-warn-premium-rate-telephone/story-24555266-detail/story.html