Warning over new La Poste ‘failed delivery’ note scam in France
Scammers post a paper slip into victims’ letterboxes with a redelivery payment link, which looks very much like an official postal service message
A new scam involving what look like La Poste failed delivery notices has begun to circulate
ricochet64 / Shutterstock
Residents in France are being warned of a new scam which involves what looks like an avis de passage du facteur (‘Sorry we missed you’ note from the postman) being posted into their letterboxes.
The logo, text, colours and tracking number displayed on the note all look like the type of failed delivery message you would receive from La Poste, but when you scan the QR code to arrange redelivery, you will be asked to input your card details.
The link will contain the standard laposte.fr – because of a system security failure, La Poste has said – but will be joined by many other letters and numbers and so appear strange.
Victims of the scam who click the link will be asked to pay €0.97 for redelivery but should remember that La Poste does not charge for this service. In addition, La Poste does not use QR codes on its failed delivery notes.
Once the scammers have ‘phished’ your card details from you, they could use them for other purchases as well.
However, the original fraudulent link should now have been disabled, so it should not be possible to enter your details unless the scammers have several different links.
The scam has been picked up as happening around Montpellier and it is not known as yet how many people have fallen victim to it.
La Poste is to lodge a formal complaint about it.
Related articles
New scam alert in France over ‘Your parcel has been sent’ texts
French banks to pay fines for late repayment of clients’ fraud losses
Driving scams, train ticket waiting list: Nine France travel updates
