Counterfeit stamps warning
Which? is warning those tempted by bargain deals for stamps to beware of scammers impersonating Royal Mail.
Although the number of letters being sent has decreased over the years, seven billion letters were handled by the Royal Mail between 2022 and 2023.
In 2022, Royal Mail added a barcode to its stamps to combat counterfeits, but so large-scale is this fraud that convincing fake stamps continue to be sold. In fact, a recent Telegraph investigation found four suppliers in China offering to print one million stamps for as little as 4p each, and websites offering sheets of 50 stamps with a counterfeit barcode included.
Last year, we warned that scammers were using online ads and phoney websites to sell a sheet of 80 second-class stamps for £60. But those tempted by these bargain prices would find themselves handing over personal and financial information to the scammers.
Read on to understand how to avoid buying fake stamps and how you can print your own.
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Stamp scams
In December 2023, Which? investigated a Facebook page titled ‘Royal Postal Mail’ promoting second-class stamps as part of a ‘clearance sale for 3 days only’. The post also included a link to 'theroyalmail.shop' - a fake website.
The scam ad was shared by members of the Which? Facebook Scam Action and Alerts Group.
Which? also found another website impersonating Royal Mail: theroaymailshop.shop.
The websites used Royal Mail branding, luring people in with tempting offers including ‘free shipping’ and ‘buy 4 get 20% off’.
These scam websites had an ‘about us’ page, fake reviews, a privacy policy and even contact information detailing the address of a Post Office shop. All things that would usually indicate the website was legitimate.
But these large discounts were its clear giveaway - for example, 10 sheets of eight first-class stamps is reduced from £100 to £49 and a sheet of 50 large second-class stamps is discounted from £77.50 to £36.
Links on these scam websites to Royal Mail's social media accounts and a ‘track your order’ page either don't work or lead to fake accounts.
We reported these fake websites to the National Cyber Security Centre and Royal Mail.
Royal Mail told us at the time that it was aware of the website and was 'taking appropriate measures'.
Where to buy stamps
The official Royal Mail website is royalmail.com.
You can only buy official stamps from most supermarkets, stationery shops or your nearest post office.
Non-barcoded stamps were phased out in 2023 and you can no longer send post with a non-barcoded stamp.
You can exchange your non-barcoded stamps for the new barcoded stamps through the Royal Mail's Stamp Swap Out scheme.
Non-barcoded Christmas stamps and special stamps such as pictorial stamps continue to be valid for postage and do not need to be swapped out.
How to print your own stamps
Another way to avoid a £5 fine for using a fake stamp is to print your own.
Royal Mail’s Click and Drop service allows you to print postage labels, or you can ask for the label to be brought to your door when your postie collects the package.
You can use this service via the Royal Mail app or by visiting Royal Mail's website.
There are a lot of postage options to choose from, but you can send letters up to 750g or packages up to 20kg.
If you choose a tracked service, you’ll need to give the email address and phone number of the recipient. Some services even let you specify a safe place to leave the package in case no one’s home.
Click and Drop also allows you to choose when you'd like the item to be collected.
These tips were originally shared in the December 2023 edition of Which? Tech Magazine.
Spotting and reporting scam adverts and websites
It's not always obvious that something might be a scam, but it pays to be vigilant when browsing online.
Some signs that social media posts and websites could be fraudulent include:
- Really attractive discounts - too good to be true prices should be approached with caution.
- Newly created website social media accounts - have a look at how recently the account joined the platform, or use who.is to look up a website's creating date.
- Only being able to pay for items using a bank transfer - this is a sure sign that it's a scam, don't use this method of payment as you have little protection if things go wrong.
- Being rushed into making a purchase decision.
- A website address which isn’t associated with the official brand.
- A website that is missing terms and conditions, a privacy policy or contact details. But even if the website does have these, it's not enough to prove that it's legitimate.
- Bad spelling and grammar, or poor imagery.
You can report scam Facebook posts and pages by selecting the three dots on the right and pressing ‘report’ and dodgy websites can be reported to the National Cyber Security Centre.
If you've been the victim of a scam, call your bank immediately using the number on the back of your bank card and report it to Action Fraud or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland.
