UK flooded with fake stamps from China slammed as 'economic warfare'

Fraudulent stamps are allegedly being shipped to the UK (Credits: PA/AFP)

Security experts have raised concerns after reports of thousands of fake Royal Mail stamps from China being sold in the UK.

Scores of fraudulent stamps are reportedly entering Britain from China, an investigation by The Daily Telegraph revealed.

Security experts labelled it ‘economic warfare’ after Royal Mail called for an investigation into the alleged mass forgery, Mail Online reports.

Customers are left out of pocket as they are forced to pay a £5 penalty to pick up post that carries fraudulent stamps – even if the stamps were bought from a legitimate source, the outlet said.

Fake stamps even have the Royal Mail barcode (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Complaints about fake stamps from China have also increased.

The newspaper identified four Chinese suppliers offering to print up to one million counterfeit Royal Mail stamps a week.

They are being sold for as little as 4p each before being shipped to the UK.

The fakes stamps are available on Amazon and eBay and websites claiming to be official Royal Mail stores.

Small retailers unknowingly buy the fakes as they are allowed to buy stamps from wholesalers rather than directly from the Royal Mail, The Telegraph understands.

Stamps at Royal Mail stores are not affected because its stamps come from secure printers in Wolverhampton, Mail Online said.

Daily Mail saw websites based in China selling sheets of 50 fake stamps with Royal Mail’s new barcode for a minimum purchase of 20,000.

Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake told the Daily Mail: ‘It is key to prevent counterfeit stamps entering our supply chain in the UK.

President of China Xi Jinping (Credits: Shutterstock)

Complaints are on the rise after customers are forced to pay a £5 penalty (Picture: PA)

‘The Royal Mail must do everything possible to prevent counterfeits entering our circulation and must establish where they are coming from and how they are entering our marketplace.’

Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smit called for a criminal inquiry and likened the stamp scam to printing money.

He told Mail Online: ‘Criminal law is very clear about this and I don’t understand why the police are not cracking down. These people are counterfeiters.’

But a spokesperson from the Chinese Embassy in London said the claims were ‘absurd’, The Times reported.

He said: ‘It is totally ridiculous, absurd and ill-intentional. How could one imagine a sovereign country triggers war by bringing fake stamps?

“If this case really happened, (the) first thing to do is to have (a) thorough investigation over the internal supply chain, instead of pursuing the attention of (the) media.’

Royal Mail said it was ‘ working hard to remove counterfeit stamps from circulation.’

A spokesperson said: ‘We regularly monitor online marketplaces to detect suspicious activity, such as sales of heavily discounted stamps and work closely with retailers and law enforcement agencies to identify those who produce counterfeit stamps.

‘We work closely with a number of police forces across the country and in recent cases we have recovered stamps with a retail value of over £250,000.’

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