:00:11. > :00:16.It invades our homes. Tons of it cascading on to our doormats.
:00:16. > :00:22.mail is becoming a plague. And it costs the taxpayer a fortune to be
:00:23. > :00:28.rid of it. �700,000 just to get junk mail into landfill. It is
:00:28. > :00:33.incredible. You might hate junk mail but would our postal service
:00:33. > :00:37.survive without it? There is absolutely no question that
:00:37. > :00:42.advertising mail is central to the financial viability of the Royal
:00:42. > :00:52.Mail. And just how addicted is Royal Mail to the darker side of
:00:52. > :00:57.
:00:57. > :01:07.The Royal Mail are delivering in effect coachloads of criminals to
:01:07. > :01:24.
:01:24. > :01:33.the Houses of elderly and There is no place to hide. It
:01:33. > :01:43.doesn't care where you live at... It will fine you. -- to fine you.
:01:43. > :01:49.
:01:49. > :01:54.And when it does, is there anything Junk mail. Not a 1950s B-movie
:01:54. > :02:00.fantasy but a reality of living in the modern world. It seems that
:02:00. > :02:05.there is absolutely no where in the UK you can escape. Even a place
:02:05. > :02:10.like this, Fair Isle. It is the most remote inhabited island in the
:02:10. > :02:15.UK, sitting 25 miles from Shetland and getting just one boat a week in
:02:15. > :02:25.the winter. It is a pretty tricky place to get to but junk mail
:02:25. > :02:27.
:02:27. > :02:37.Charities, insurance, another charity One, somebody asking me to
:02:37. > :02:37.
:02:37. > :02:42.buy beds, Co-op, we don't have one on Fair Isle, another one on
:02:42. > :02:52.insurance, Specsavers, Co-op again and the royal wedding coin offer.
:02:52. > :02:55.
:02:55. > :03:04.For Fair Isle's post mistress, junk mail has become almost as common a
:03:04. > :03:08.sight as the island's seabirds. are not immune from junk mail.
:03:08. > :03:12.There is one advantage to living here though if you are trying to
:03:13. > :03:17.avoid some junk mail. There are absolutely no fast food outlet on
:03:17. > :03:21.Fair Isle so they won't be plagued by all those takeaway leaflets.
:03:21. > :03:25.That doesn't seem quite fair on the rest of us in the UK though so why
:03:25. > :03:35.have brought some kebab shop and curry house leaflets just so they
:03:35. > :03:38.
:03:38. > :03:42.It seems a bit ridiculous, doesn't it? It is a bit of a waste and I
:03:42. > :03:47.put it straight in the bin, along with all my other rubbish that will
:03:47. > :03:51.go back out on the boat that all of this came in on. Unfortunately,
:03:51. > :04:01.most of us don't have the luxury of sending our junk mail out over the
:04:01. > :04:04.
:04:04. > :04:08.horizon. A lot of it simply ends up In Cornwall, they reckon around
:04:08. > :04:16.4,000 tonnes of junk mail like this ends up in landfill every year.
:04:16. > :04:22.That is enough to feel about 500 of those dustcarts. -- to fill up
:04:22. > :04:27.about 500. That 4,000 tons represents about 3% of the overall
:04:27. > :04:31.waste Cornwall thumbs into landfill and burial doesn't come cheap.
:04:31. > :04:37.is quite incredible how much it costs. For that fraction, you are
:04:37. > :04:42.looking at getting on for �700,000 a year. Just to get junk mail into
:04:42. > :04:48.landfill? Yeah, it is quite incredible. And who is paying that
:04:48. > :04:55.bill? The Cornish resident is paying the bills. Could the Cornish
:04:55. > :04:59.cut that cost by making an effort to put that 4,000 tonnes of junk
:04:59. > :05:04.mail into the recycling bin instead? It would be nice if it was
:05:04. > :05:09.free, unfortunately it is not. You are looking at �119 per tonne to
:05:09. > :05:13.recycle. But that is still close to half-a-million quid, so although it
:05:13. > :05:18.is cheaper it is not a lot cheaper than putting it into landfill?
:05:18. > :05:22.Unfortunately yes. Much better environmentally, no question about
:05:22. > :05:28.that, but there is still a cost. This is a month's worth, three
:05:28. > :05:30.weeks' worth, and this is how much comes through my letterbox.
:05:30. > :05:35.Cornwall councillor Andrew Wallis believes junk mail has become a
:05:35. > :05:41.plague. I get everything from utility companies, charities,
:05:41. > :05:47.supermarkets, you name it, I generally have it. This is almost a
:05:47. > :05:52.criminal waste of our money. Government is cutting Cornwall
:05:52. > :05:56.Council's budget by �53 million this year. And the last thing
:05:56. > :06:01.Andrew wants is to see the county's remaining cash ebbing away to pay
:06:01. > :06:05.for the disposal of junk mail. we could save some of this money
:06:05. > :06:09.from not having to deal with junk mail, this money could be used
:06:09. > :06:15.elsewhere for the benefit of Cornwall. Makes you wonder how much
:06:15. > :06:20.the whole country could save. a-million in Cornwall. Times that
:06:20. > :06:29.by all the authorities in the UK. You are talking millions, absolute
:06:29. > :06:33.millions. So we didn't ask for this and yet we had to pay a fortune to
:06:33. > :06:37.be rid of it. Shouldn't be companies sending it help to pay
:06:37. > :06:44.the bill? This organisations represents many of them. Either way,
:06:44. > :06:50.they don't call it junk mail here. I don't think we should bear any
:06:50. > :06:55.additional cost at this point in time. But why should the taxpayers
:06:55. > :06:59.in Cornwall and anywhere else pave the dispose -- to dispose of what
:06:59. > :07:04.they didn't even ask for? We are a very small part of the use of
:07:04. > :07:10.landfill. We don't think it is a burden. We think the overall value
:07:10. > :07:16.to consumers and the economy far outweighs that cost. People want
:07:16. > :07:21.things from you? Absolutely, they do want it. But is there a way of
:07:21. > :07:25.turning an expensive problem into a valuable asset? Remember Fair
:07:25. > :07:34.Isle's junk mail? It eventually ends up being delivered here, in
:07:34. > :07:39.Where it actually does some good, along with a lot of other rubbish.
:07:39. > :07:45.It is burned to keep Shetlanders warm. At Lerwick, the capital, they
:07:45. > :07:54.have got what is called an energy recovery plant. That is the last of
:07:54. > :07:58.As the council, we encourage waste prevention and junk mail is always
:07:58. > :08:02.going to be there so the key thing is that when it does end up in the
:08:02. > :08:06.waste bin, we at least deal with it properly and recovery -- recover
:08:06. > :08:10.the energy for. Junk mail plays its part here in providing heating and
:08:11. > :08:16.hot water for homes, businesses, a couple of schools and even a
:08:16. > :08:23.swimming pool. A little bit of good comes from that people, if you
:08:23. > :08:30.like? Absolutely. It is far better for the environment than sending it
:08:30. > :08:35.to landfill. 1.7 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered by Royal
:08:35. > :08:45.Mail last year. So why shouldn't I follow the Shetlanders' example and
:08:45. > :08:48.
:08:48. > :08:55.My family home is heated by two hungry would burners and feeding
:08:55. > :09:02.them is hard graft. Many is the weekend I have spent toiling away
:09:02. > :09:07.in a nearby forest cutting down dead trees to burn. That should
:09:07. > :09:11.keep me warm for a week or so! But instead of spending time and
:09:11. > :09:15.effort gathering wood for the fire why don't I just put my feet up and
:09:15. > :09:21.let Royal Mail do the work? Delivering fuel in the form of junk
:09:21. > :09:27.mail. It didn't take long, just an hour
:09:27. > :09:34.ordering up extra junk, for it to come in thick and fast.
:09:34. > :09:44.Double glazing, insurance, windows again, animals, Damart, don't
:09:44. > :09:44.
:09:44. > :09:54.remember signing up for that, As a nation though, it appears we
:09:54. > :10:03.
:10:03. > :10:08.The Direct Marketing Association in Advertising mail has a very large
:10:08. > :10:12.value to the UK economy. Close to �16 billion be in terms of goods
:10:12. > :10:17.and services bought and sold through direct marketing. What you
:10:17. > :10:21.are saying is that if we didn't have junk mail, there would be a
:10:21. > :10:25.�16 billion hole in the UK economy? Absolutely right and that is why we
:10:25. > :10:30.prefer to think of it as targeted direct marketing as opposed to junk
:10:30. > :10:33.mail. I don't really like the phrase job because junk is
:10:33. > :10:39.untargeted, unuseful, unvaluable and if it was... That is how it
:10:39. > :10:46.feels to me. It feels exactly those things, and unwanted. More than 50%
:10:46. > :10:52.of the UK have bought from a piece of direct mail in the last year.
:10:52. > :10:56.There were loads today. So much it has gone everywhere.
:10:56. > :11:01.I won't be ordering anything from my junk mail though. I just want to
:11:01. > :11:08.burn it. But you do need a bit of specialist kit to turn all of that
:11:08. > :11:13.post into logs. This is a briquette maker. You tear it up into strips.
:11:13. > :11:20.Put it into something like this, add water. You end up with a load
:11:20. > :11:30.of porridgy gloop. Give it a good push. Lots of pressure. Pour out
:11:30. > :11:34.
:11:34. > :11:41.the excess. And there you have it. While many of us made love to hate
:11:42. > :11:46.junk mail, Royal Mail must positively adore it. There is
:11:46. > :11:50.absolutely no question that advertising mail, which the critics
:11:50. > :11:58.describe as junk mail, is central to the financial viability of the
:11:58. > :12:02.Royal Mail in the 21st century. Richard Hooper should know. The
:12:02. > :12:06.author of a government report into Royal Mail's future, he made plain
:12:06. > :12:13.that out of a poached -- total postal market of �11.4 billion,
:12:13. > :12:19.junk mail was worth 1.7 billion. If you take letters alone, it appears
:12:19. > :12:25.Royal Mail really counts on it. were looking at a figure of
:12:25. > :12:32.something like �5.4 billion for the total letters market, off which 1.3,
:12:32. > :12:35.so nearly a quarter, is advertising mail, so that shows you how
:12:35. > :12:41.important advertising mail is to the future of the Royal Mail and to
:12:41. > :12:45.the future of postal services. does that mean we need junk mail to
:12:45. > :12:53.be able to send our Christmas cards anywhere in the UK for the cost of
:12:53. > :12:58.a stamp? The supreme irony is that without the junk mail, without the
:12:58. > :13:05.advertising mail as I would call it, he would not have the Universal
:13:05. > :13:08.Postal Service. -- you would not have. We contacted the Royal Mail,
:13:08. > :13:13.outlining Richard Hooper's position. It made no comment but said instead
:13:13. > :13:16.it did not recognise the term junk mail, adding many households find
:13:16. > :13:23.direct mail useful, and if they don't, many schemes exist or
:13:23. > :13:27.stopping it, including its own. So on the face of it, it seems the
:13:27. > :13:36.best way of ensuring the survival of our beloved postal system is to
:13:36. > :13:39.sign up for as much junk as you possibly can. But beware. Imagine
:13:39. > :13:44.if you're keen among the junk catalogues and leaflets were
:13:44. > :13:54.letters so toxic they could completely ruin your life? And
:13:54. > :13:56.
:13:56. > :14:02.imagine if Royal Mail was making Scam mail. Just like junk mail,
:14:02. > :14:07.delivered by Royal Mail. Letters from foreign con-artists invading
:14:07. > :14:17.our homes and our bank accounts, taking �2.4 billion in here at last
:14:17. > :14:20.
:14:20. > :14:30.For years, scam mail has flooded into the UK, snaring victims and
:14:30. > :14:36.I could hardly open the door because there was the tsunami of
:14:36. > :14:40.letters. They were literally everywhere in the House and there
:14:40. > :14:45.were hundreds of them. We had a clear-out and we ordered a five-ton
:14:45. > :14:51.skip. There are fake lotteries, dodgy catalogues, criminal
:14:51. > :14:56.clairvoyant! Promising big cash prizes and guaranteed good luck --
:14:56. > :15:02.clairvoyants. The problem is, to claim your winnings you just need
:15:02. > :15:08.to send off if small sum, �20, �30, but that fat cheque to save your
:15:08. > :15:14.life never arrives. My mother was spending between �2,000 and �4,000
:15:14. > :15:19.a month. His whole pension money was going every week. Over 12 years,
:15:19. > :15:25.at least half a million pounds went off to criminal scammers. And this
:15:25. > :15:34.can be the result of that obsession. There are 120 chequebooks fear from
:15:34. > :15:39.just one victim. And over four years, she spent �40,000 on scams.
:15:39. > :15:44.After replying to the first tempter better, are victims' names are put
:15:44. > :15:51.on a sucker list. These are often sold to other criminals around the
:15:52. > :15:57.world. Which is exactly what happened to Paul's husband. Africa,
:15:57. > :16:07.Australia, Germany, France, you name it. They were coming from all
:16:07. > :16:12.
:16:12. > :16:16.over the world. How many letters 20-30 a day.
:16:16. > :16:22.Ray hoped to win enough money to pay for a golden wedding
:16:22. > :16:28.anniversary trip to Canada. Instead, hooked on scam mail, he lost their
:16:28. > :16:32.�5,000 life savings and almost his marriage. Biggest mistake of my
:16:32. > :16:41.life. I didn't think I could be that gullible.
:16:41. > :16:46.I reject what I've done. -- I regret what I've done. I feel
:16:46. > :16:52.sorry, foolish, annoyed and angry that I could have let myself be
:16:52. > :16:57.fooled by these people that send these letters out.
:16:57. > :17:02.Like Ray, 76-year-old Pamela was addicted to scam mail, losing
:17:02. > :17:07.thousands of pounds. She has come to Exeter University to find out
:17:08. > :17:13.why. I do want to say very strongly that it is not only the elderly.
:17:13. > :17:18.Actually, the biggest friend of the scamer is complacency. The feeling
:17:18. > :17:26.that "I couldn't feel victim to something like this!" actually, you
:17:26. > :17:34.could, who ever you are. Hello, come in. Professor Stephen
:17:34. > :17:39.Lea has done a landmark study into the psychology of victims. It did
:17:39. > :17:44.become an addiction. Perhaps next time I'll win it, the next letter.
:17:44. > :17:49.Not the next month, the next letter. It is called the gamblers fallacy.
:17:49. > :17:54.Actually of course there are a range of techniques that scamers
:17:54. > :18:00.use, making something look like an official communication, feel like,
:18:00. > :18:04.I have to open this. Others are going for the gut really. We call
:18:04. > :18:12.them influences, putting a huge sum of money at the top of a letter.
:18:12. > :18:20.The misery caused by some of these scams is really unbelievable.
:18:20. > :18:28.you think you have won on this one? I know I've won it. How sure are
:18:28. > :18:38.you? 100%. 100%. This film shows theor meant of Jessica Looke, in
:18:38. > :18:41.
:18:41. > :18:49.the grip of scam mail addiction. Her daughter, who tried everything
:18:49. > :18:59.to stop her, is behind the camera. Are they being stupid? I don't
:18:59. > :19:07.
:19:07. > :19:11.think so. When your mental health When I got to the hospital, about
:19:11. > :19:21.three hours before my mother died, she didn't speak much because she
:19:21. > :19:23.
:19:23. > :19:27.was too poorly, but she did say to me, "marry lin, has the post been -
:19:27. > :19:37.- Marilyn, has the post been?" did you think?
:19:37. > :19:43.I don't know. After jes ka had died, Marilyn
:19:43. > :19:47.cleared around 30,000 scam letters out of her home. The cruel legacy
:19:47. > :19:52.of another wise happy life. It was literally every where. The shed was
:19:52. > :19:56.full. Under the bed - it was in the corn
:19:56. > :20:06.flake box, in every drawer, every cupboard. It was every where.
:20:06. > :20:11.is some of the scam mail removed.... The experience drove her to set up
:20:11. > :20:14.Think Jessica, to help other families. We can get up to 26,000
:20:14. > :20:18.visitors a month. If these people were getting mugged on the street,
:20:18. > :20:22.there would be an outcry. Because it is happening via the post and
:20:22. > :20:28.going on behind closed doors, nothing is being done. These people
:20:28. > :20:32.are not getting any help. For years, criminals have acted with impunity,
:20:32. > :20:37.outside UK borders. Largely free to inject their fraud into our postal
:20:37. > :20:42.system. International boundaries have no
:20:42. > :20:46.meaning for these people. They are serious, organised criminal
:20:46. > :20:51.networks, at the top echelons there will not be many of them. They will
:20:51. > :20:55.operate from all over the world. The City of London Police is trying
:20:55. > :21:01.to get to grips with the scamers. The lead force for the
:21:01. > :21:06.investigation of economic crime in the UK, their officers are busy
:21:06. > :21:10.gathering evidence. Will the countries of the scamers helped?
:21:10. > :21:13.There'll be different levels of co- operation in some areas of the
:21:13. > :21:17.world. Some countries we get cracking co-operation. Some
:21:17. > :21:21.countries it is much more difficult. I can assure people that we will be
:21:21. > :21:27.doing something. The question is, would something be
:21:27. > :21:36.achieved by looking closer to home? A lot closer?
:21:36. > :21:42.Like here at the Royal Mail's headquarters in central London?
:21:42. > :21:49.Or here, an anonymous industrial estate in Southall, London. This is
:21:49. > :21:55.the home to a UK hub of a firm called Spring Global Mail. Royal
:21:55. > :21:59.Mail owned one-third of the company, which acts as their overseas agent.
:21:59. > :22:05.It is believed to earn Royal Mail millions. It declined to say how
:22:05. > :22:10.many. Spring Global has centres in 15
:22:11. > :22:18.countries. It enters into mail contracts with companys from around
:22:18. > :22:22.the world. If you are an Australian firm 579ing to get a catalogue de--
:22:22. > :22:26.wanting to get a catalogue delivered, speak to Spring. They
:22:26. > :22:32.are a vehicle for scamers and it has been going on for years. How
:22:32. > :22:37.does Spring Global Mail, part owned by Royal Mail allow scam mail to
:22:37. > :22:46.even enter the UK? Unfortunately it is easy to get scam mail into the
:22:46. > :22:51.UK. The fraudsters use all the legitimate canals. Used by scamers
:22:51. > :22:58.who want to market the UK. They use that cover to actually manipulate
:22:58. > :23:05.and target people in the UK. Surely Spring Global Mail checks
:23:05. > :23:10.what it sends to us? Mike Haley thinks it should do more.
:23:10. > :23:13.simple thing they can do is to ask for copies of the mail shots that
:23:13. > :23:19.are going to be distributed upfront, so they can look at them, check
:23:19. > :23:24.them and see whether they are fraud lent mail. Spring Global has said
:23:24. > :23:28.it has no powers to act as a sensor and it is not possible to identify
:23:28. > :23:33.scam mail, even when sent in transparent wrapping. Here is an
:23:33. > :23:37.example sent via Spring Global to the UK.
:23:37. > :23:44.One hired monkey could see this is scam. It says here "you are
:23:44. > :23:48.definitely going to be depositing �25,500, in your personal account.
:23:49. > :23:53.Congratulations!" Once in the system it is too late. Our current
:23:53. > :23:58.postal laws mean Royal Mail then have an obligation to deliver it
:23:58. > :24:03.and to all intents and purposes it looks above board, especially as
:24:03. > :24:08.many take advantage of a service provided by Spring Global and part
:24:08. > :24:13.owners Royal Mail. They offer the local look, which means letters
:24:13. > :24:16.like this from foreign fraudsters can THE COMMENTATOR: Complete with
:24:16. > :24:21.the trusted Royal Mail logo and be delivered looking like they come
:24:21. > :24:28.from Britain. My mother used to say, it isn't a
:24:28. > :24:35.scam, it is genuine, this is the Queen's mail. She could not be
:24:35. > :24:38.delivering it is if was a scam. Scamers use a post mark because it
:24:38. > :24:42.creates trust and security. A lot of elderly people will see that and
:24:42. > :24:50.think there must have been some checks already in place, so this
:24:50. > :24:56.mail is trusted mail. Spring Global told us it is a
:24:56. > :25:01.marketing activity and the vast majority of companies using it are
:25:01. > :25:06.legitimate. What proportion of Spring Globals is made up by scam?
:25:06. > :25:11.Only they can tell how much is fraud lent. It could be 30-40% of
:25:11. > :25:17.their business. Spring Global Mail did not comment on these figures.
:25:17. > :25:27.We asked Royal Mail and Spring Global for an interview. They
:25:27. > :25:47.
:25:47. > :25:51.declined. Instead supplying us with Royal Mail and Spring Global Mail
:25:51. > :25:54.point to an operation with the Metropolitan Police in January,
:25:54. > :25:58.which removed six million scam letters from the UK.
:25:58. > :26:02.Both say they are committed to working with other UK agencies to
:26:02. > :26:06.stamp out the problem and that the Met operation and other
:26:06. > :26:10.investigations has led to the cancellation of 17 overseas bulk
:26:10. > :26:16.mail contracts this year. They added that what they have been
:26:16. > :26:19.doing should remove an estimated 16 million scam mailings per year,
:26:19. > :26:24.which Spring say represent 3% of the company's revenue. What I want
:26:24. > :26:30.to know is, why didn't they do that years ago? Why has it dawned on
:26:30. > :26:34.them that they can cancel these contracts? They need to ratchet up
:26:34. > :26:39.their response, recognising the human misery that comes about by
:26:39. > :26:45.the delivery of this fraudulent mail. Any serious business will
:26:45. > :26:48.want to protect its customers. For just making a quick buck off some
:26:48. > :26:53.fraudsters they should balance that against the fact that they have a
:26:53. > :26:56.big custom base they need to protect. I blame Royal Mail for
:26:56. > :26:59.these mailings reaching my father. At the end of the day, they know
:26:59. > :27:06.what they are delivering. They don't realise the impact it's
:27:07. > :27:12.having on people's lives. I think it's all about revenue and money.
:27:12. > :27:21.With so many loopholes being exploited by scamers, is it time
:27:21. > :27:28.for tougher legislation? MP Caroline Nokes is so appalled she
:27:28. > :27:31.is pushing forward a private memberers' bill. We -- private
:27:31. > :27:39.memberer's bill. We need to intercept it at the point of entry.
:27:39. > :27:43.She wants postmen and women to deliver change, empowering them to
:27:43. > :27:47.identify victims. One big problem at the moment is a victim has to
:27:47. > :27:54.identify themselves as a victim. In many cases they don't. They believe
:27:54. > :27:58.this scam mail is genuine. Sadly, without Government backing or
:27:58. > :28:04.massive public pressure Caroline's bill stands little chance of
:28:04. > :28:10.becoming law. We are left to hope postal companies do more to keep
:28:11. > :28:14.scam mail off our door mat. As I have travelled around the
:28:14. > :28:19.country, speaking to victims of scam mail and their families I have