Eight people have been arrested by UK police in connection with scam texts which claim to be from the Royal Mail.

The operations on Monday in London, Coventry, Birmingham and Colchester took place during a week of action by officers from the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU).

Seven of those arrested have been released under investigation, while one suspect from Enfield, north London, has been charged and remanded in custody ahead of a court appearance in June.

The police said ongoing investigations were expected to result in further arrests and charges.

Royal Mail is just one of the delivery firms used by criminals in messages designed to trick people into giving away details which can be used to commit further frauds.

The texts tell recipients there is an unpaid fee on a parcel and that they need to pay it before redelivery can be arranged. Links direct them to fake clone websites where they are asked for personal and financial details that can be used later by the fraudsters.

Similar scams involving postal outlets such as MaltaPost and DHL have been seen in Malta, with Malta’s cyber police warning against the scams, calling on people to be more vigilant when it comes to entering their bank details into such websites.

People can generally tell when a website is fake due to subtle differences in the website’s address – or URL. 

Over 200 people in Malta have been defrauded out of almost €200,000 because of the scams.