THE SA Post Office has issued a warning to the public to be aware of a parcel delivery scam designed to defraud them.
According to Nobuhle Njapha from the SA Post Office, individuals have received phone calls by people pretending to be from the Customs division of the SA Post Office, and are informed that a parcel is ready for collection, provided they first pay money into an account. According to the caller, the money is for customs duties and courier fees.
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The victim is then directed to a website that appears similar to the Speed Services website, however the phone number is in the United Kingdom with a prefix of +44.
“Customers are also given a pin which they have to enter before they can ‘track’ the fictitious parcel. The Post Office does not use pin numbers for its tracking service.”
“The SA Post Office does not require customers to make any bank deposit before parcels are released. In instances where SARS levy import tax on parcels from abroad, the import tax must be paid at the Post Office counter when the item is collected. The customer will receive a receipt for this payment,” said Njapha.
She said where the Post Office has the cellphone number of the recipient, the customer will receive an SMS requesting him or her to collect the parcel at a specific Post Office branch. The SMS will not request that funds be deposited into an account.
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Anyone with information regarding this scam is requested to call the SA police or the Post Office’s Crime buster Hotline on 0800 020 070.
