Hoards of scam letters are being seized before reaching the letterboxes of vulnerable potential victims, according to Royal Mail. The delivery service received stinging criticism from government and campaigners after the Royal Mail logo was found on scam letters. It prompted a series of changes which the service said had halted three million letters in just over a year. Fake lotteries and bogus clairvoyants have used mass mail drops in the past.
Impounding letters

An investigation by the Daily Mail in 2016 alleged that scammers paid companies to print their scam letters in bulk. If printed abroad, the letters were then taken to the UK where firms sorted and mass transported them to Royal Mail, which made the final delivery to people's homes. The Royal Mail logo was printed on the envelopes. The issue led Royal Mail to be hauled before a government minister. The service said it faced difficulties owing to the law which made it an offence to open postal items to look at the contents. Once envelopes were sealed, neither Royal Mail nor the intermediary companies delivering the mail to Royal Mail for final delivery were permitted to open them and assess the content, it said.

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