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Concerns over ID fraudsters targeting mail redirection services
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- Category: News
- Created on Tuesday, 19 June 2012 15:17
- Written by Amsterdam Herald
Fraudsters are able to obtain people’s private mail by obtaining their names and addresses and applying for PostNL’s redirection service.
Two members of the Lower House say they will ask questions in Parliament about how police and PostNL are dealing with the potential for fraud.
The outcry came after a business owner described the scam in a letter to the satirical website GeenStijl.
He said he discovered the fraud in March when a laptop was delivered to his office that he hadn’t ordered, and quickly realised that criminals were using his details to buy mobile phones and other goods online.
He claimed the criminals had opened an account with PostNL and redirected his personal post as well as his business mail to a PO box address.
Several hundred thousand households and businesses use mail redirection services each year. Accounts can be easily set up through the internet.
A spokeswoman for PostNL acknowledged there were a “small number” of cases of fraudulent use of the redirection service, but refused to give exact figures.
“We are doing all we can to make our products as safe as possible,” she said.
“We have built-in checks in the system. For example, if you want to have your mail redirected you first receive a confirmation letter sent to your previous address.”
Ahmed Marcouch, an MP for the Labour Party (PvdA), said he would be asking deputy prime minister Maxime Verhagen about the handling of suspected fraud cases by PostNL and the police.
Seven years ago PostNL’s predecessor, TPG Post, faced similar questions about the security of its redirection service after the media reported around 1200 cases of fraud.
The company refused to confirm the figure at the time, but PostNL said the number of fraud cases was lower now than in 2005.
Source: NOS: Fraude doorzendservice PostNL
Photo by Alix Guillard
