There is something mysterious going on at the Royal Mail, but it has nothing to do with the recent Post Office scandal.
Rather, it involves an increase in the number of ‘counterfeit’ stamps and a hefty £5 fine for those who receive (and accept) mail posted with a stamp.
Money Mail has been contacted by dozens of frustrated readers who have been hit with the fine, while others who bought stamps from legitimate sources say they are embarrassed by sending mail to friends and family which the Royal Mail then deems to be ‘counterfeit’.
Shocking: There is an increase in the number of ‘counterfeit’ stamps and a £5 fine for those who receive (and accept) mail posted with a stamp
It all started two years ago when the Royal Mail introduced barcoded stamps, allowing mail to be tracked and providing a more efficient, secure service.
For customers who had a stock of older stamps without a barcode, the Royal Mail launched the Stamp Swap Out program, which meant they could be exchanged for barcoded ones.
Initially, stamps could only be exchanged by printing an online form, requesting a stamp exchange form online that was mailed to you, visiting a local delivery office, or calling customer service.
But following a campaign by our sister paper, The Mail on Sunday, forms were made available at local post offices, along with a reply envelope.
So simple so far. Although the new stamps depicting King Charles III have a unique barcode, which the Royal Mail says makes the stamps more difficult to reproduce, this may not be the case.
Take Tony Marcella, a 54-year-old business strategist from Rugby, Warwickshire. The Royal Mail had to charge him £5 to receive a card from an old friend after a ‘fee to pay’ card came through his letterbox.
Fine: Money Mail has been contacted by dozens of frustrated readers who have been hit with the fine
Had she used enough postage, he wondered. Yes, but the yellow sticker on the envelope had a box checked that said ‘fake stamp’. Stamps are considered a ‘safe printing article’ in the same way as banknotes, meaning it is a crime to knowingly reuse or sell used or counterfeit stamps.
Dissatisfied, Tony contacted his friend, who explained that this stamp was one of 103 she had received from the Royal Mail after redeeming £95.69 worth of unbarcoded stamps through the Stamp Swap Out scheme .
Mortified, she told him she had sent more than twenty cards with the stamps; if every recipient had been charged this fee, the Royal Mail would have incurred at least £100 in fines from just one sender.
But given the origin of the stamps, it appeared to Tony and his friend that the Royal Mail itself was sending out stamps that were later identified as ‘counterfeit’ stamps.
“I’m very angry,” Tony says.
“I looked very closely at the surface of the stamp and compared it to other stamps I had at home, and I am convinced that the stamp that said ‘counterfeit’ was genuine.”
Money Mail contacted stamp experts at Corbitts auction house in Newcastle Upon Tyne, who also reviewed images of Tony’s stamp and confirmed that they believe the stamp is genuine.
‘The charge used to be £1 for a letter with incorrect postage, but this has now risen to £5!’ Tony says.
The £5 fine is four times the price of a standard first class stamp, which will rise to £1.35 on April 2, and more than four times the original fine price.
It is unclear at what point these ‘fake’ stamps entered circulation and where they came from, and whether they are genuine and Royal Mail’s scanning technology is to blame.
However, a Royal Mail postal worker in Kent, who wished to remain anonymous, said he did not believe there was a criminal network of postal workers making money from counterfeit stamps, but that the machines used to scan the stamps at sorting offices or printers that produce the stamps are defective.
The Post Office says it receives its stamps directly from Royal Mail’s secure printers, which it delivers to its branches in secure vans or sends them from its warehouse via secure post in tamper-proof envelopes.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘Royal Mail uses a controlled process that is safe and robust for the distribution of our stamps and stamp products, including stamps delivered to customers through our Swap Out programme.’
This is of little comfort to 78-year-old charity volunteer Pam James, from Nailsea in North Somerset.
The mother-of-two was charged £5 by the Royal Mail after receiving a card from her former neighbor Lynn with a yellow label on the envelope containing a card saying the second class stamp was ‘counterfeit’.
She paid the fee, but bewildered, Pam examined the stamp with a magnifying glass but could not spot any discoloration, strange markings or errors.
She says, ‘This is outrageous. The barcodes were supposed to help improve things. The price of stamps goes up, but the service goes down. I now send people virtual cards.’
Customers who purchase stamps at post offices are provided with an itemized receipt, which the company requires to investigate any allegations of counterfeit stamps.
Consumer champion Martyn James says official stamps are never discounted.
The Royal Mail recommends checking stamps for unusual coloring, uneven edges or missing security ovals.
Beware of sheets of stamps sold in quantities other than 25, 50 and 100 is recommended.
If you suspect you have accidentally purchased a counterfeit stamp, visit royal mail.com/report-stamp-fraud.
Royal Mail declined to comment on the number of fines it had issued for ‘counterfeit’ stamps. It would also not confirm whether an internal investigation will be conducted.
A Royal Mail spokesperson said: ‘It is vital that we can investigate any case where someone believes their stamps have been wrongly identified as counterfeit or previously used.
‘To do this, we require any customer who believes they have been charged an additional charge in error to return the envelope containing the barcoded stamp attached to us, along with the exact location where the stamp was purchased.
“We have a robust, multi-stage process to assess the authenticity of barcoded stamps. We are always happy to look at individual cases and if a mistake has been made, we will of course correct it.’
Have you been charged €5 for using a ‘fake’ stamp? Email a.cooke@dailymail.co.uk.
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