Authorities hoodwinked by hoax scam warnings

Authorities are falling for hoax email chain letters about a non-existent parcel delivery scam and giving it credence by posting warnings on their sites.

Warnings about the so-called scam are appearing on police and neighbourhood watch websites and have even appeared in some regional newspapers, according to premium rate watchdog Icstis.

As a result, worried members of the public are flooding premium rate number regulator Icstis  with calls about the 'scam'. A representative said: "It is causing real problems as we are getting many phone calls from worried people who we have to reassure this is a hoax.

"It is a shame that the people posting the warnings haven't bothered to check that that the emails are genuine; all it would take is a simple phone call to us. Now we also have to contact organisations who have posted these warnings not to give this hoax legitimacy, and sometimes they don't believe us initially."

The warnings concern a scam where a card was posted through people's doors from a company called PDS (Parcel Delivery Service), saying the company was unable to deliver a package. The aim was to get people to ring a premium rate number.

While this scam existed it was stopped by Icstis in December last year and the watchdog will rule on its investigation soon. Despite the warnings, Icstis said it has not begun again and Computeractive has verified the phone number in question is not live.

The hoax emails use genuine information about the scam and purport to come from official sources such as Trading Standards, City of London Police or the Royal Mail to suggest it is still current.

The emails include an urban myth about premium rate phone charges; in this case that the caller will be billed £15 the instant they are connected to a recording.

The maximum possible charge for a premium rate call is £1.50 a minute, not the £15 suggested. Even when the scam was live, the most a person could be charged was £9 for the six-minute call.

Computeractive launched an investigation and in 45 minutes found warnings about the 'scam', posted on or around 9 November 2006, on many web sites, including those run by West Yorkshire and Surrey police .

We also found warnings on the website of Jim Hood Labour MP for Lanark and Hamilton East. His post said other MPs were being urged to contact the media warning of the scam. Warnings have also been posted on various forums, neighbourhood watch sites and a blog run by a Brighton and Hove councillor.