New DPD email scam Sheffield shoppers need to be aware of this Christmas

Some residents in Sheffield said they have received such an email which supposedly informs recipients that a delivery attempt has been made but failed.

It then informs that a shipping fee would be required in order to attempt delivery for the second time.

A DPD spokesperson said this fraudulent activity is known as phishing and they have seen an increase of reports recently as criminals know people are expecting more parcel deliveries at the moment.

DPD also warned its customers to look out for any sign that could give the scam away, such as the email address.

The statement said: "While we use industry-leading tools and services to detect, prevent and deter these attacks, we cannot prevent cyber criminals from targeting people in this way.

"We have recently issued renewed guidance to our team including our customer services staff and we continue to work with the mail service providers and our retail customers to minimise the impact of phishing as much as possible.

"Our advice for customers is always to check the email address. If you don’t recognise it, you can go directly to our website (https://www.dpd.co.uk) and enter the tracking number yourself.

"With links in emails you can hover your cursor over the link to view the URL before you click it. Again, if you don’t recognise the destination, don’t open it."

DPD also provides advice for customers on their website at: https://www.dpd.co.uk/content/about_dpd/phishing.jsp