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Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

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Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#11
post #7

It is strange that a person would receive a fine for receiving a letter with a "counterfeit" stamp. That would make for a very nasty revenge operation - send your worst enemy letters with counterfeit stamps to cause them to incur a five pound fine.

same goes for bad checks, the person cashing it pays a returned check fee!

Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#12
post #7

It is strange that a person would receive a fine for receiving a letter with a "counterfeit" stamp. That would make for a very nasty revenge operation - send your worst enemy letters with counterfeit stamps to cause them to incur a five pound fine.

You don't have to pay it. It's only payable if you want to receive the letter.

Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#13
post #7

It is strange that a person would receive a fine for receiving a letter with a "counterfeit" stamp. That would make for a very nasty revenge operation - send your worst enemy letters with counterfeit stamps to cause them to incur a five pound fine.

From the article, sounds like the recipient can pay the fine and get the mail, or not pay the fine and not get the mail. Maybe it'll get returned to sender, for insufficient postage? Maybe it'll be destroyed?

Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#14
post #7

It is strange that a person would receive a fine for receiving a letter with a "counterfeit" stamp. That would make for a very nasty revenge operation - send your worst enemy letters with counterfeit stamps to cause them to incur a five pound fine.

You pay the fine if want the post. You don't legally have to pay. Presumably it works like this because they can't always identify who sent the letter.

Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#17
post #2

"It is unclear at what point these ‘counterfeit’ stamps have entered circulation, and their source — or whether they are genuine and Royal Mail’s scanning technology is at fault." Given the precedents from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal , I think the second option is plausible. My experience in the UK is that dysfunctional organizations try to hide issues by bullying their own customers…

In the past six months I've had four letters returned to me because they went through the sort/scanner upside down and used the sender address on the CN22 as the destination address. I'd put money on it being a failure of technology.

Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#18

If this is really about a fine for counterfeiting a stamp, isn't £5 astonishingly low? In the US that's a serious federal felony with up to five years in prison. https://puryearlaw.com/2015/12/27/federal-counterfeit-postag...

It is not. "Fine" is misreporting.

Re: Why are so many people being hit with £5 fines for 'counterfeit' stamps?

#19
post #2

"It is unclear at what point these ‘counterfeit’ stamps have entered circulation, and their source — or whether they are genuine and Royal Mail’s scanning technology is at fault." Given the precedents from the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Post_Office_scandal , I think the second option is plausible. My experience in the UK is that dysfunctional organizations try to hide issues by bullying their own customers…

It’s a scandal engine that occasionally delivers mail. No accountability, no repercussions.

Royal Mail and the Post Office are two separate organisations.
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