Where is this malicious mail coming from?

[alwyn]

Someone is causing me to receive unwanted brochures from companies.

They are sending brochure request coupons to these companies, with my details. My details are printed and stuck onto the coupon to avoid handwriting detection.

However, three of these coupons have been sent to me in error. One has orange barcodes top and bottom, which I understand will show the mail centre that received the brochure. I understand too that the information is encoded.

Is there anyone within Royal Mail who could advise where the coupon was posted from?

[not me]

from my understanding the stickers relate more of where the mail is going to
the most it is going to tell you is the 1st mail centre it hits

[TrueBlueTerrier]

if its Royal Mail who are delivering them then they should have a return address on the reverse if they are being sent by a company.

I would write on the envelopes "Return to sender" - "please remove name and address from Data Base" and put them back into the system (you do not need to pay postage)

As far as I know this constitutes as a "Written request" and they should comply. I would also scan/photograph them before you send them as proof.

[alwyn]

from my understanding the stickers relate more of where the mail is going to
the most it is going to tell you is the 1st mail centre it hits

Knowing the first mail centre that received the post would be very useful indeed.

[krussel]

from my understanding the stickers relate more of where the mail is going to
the most it is going to tell you is the 1st mail centre it hits

Knowing the first mail centre that received the post would be very useful indeed.

I doubt if the barcodes could be de-coded even if you had the mailcenter machine available ?

Normally this kind of thing starts with some of your friends having a laugh by sending you the most odd brochure requests they can find. I understand it can become a pain if it goes on too long. All you can do is write "not known at this address" and place the unwanted brochure's in the post box, where they will be returned to the sender and your address removed. Normally they only send one brochure per request so hopefully it will die out soon enough.

[alwyn]

Oh, it can be decoded alright. It's just a matter of knowing who in Royal Mail can do it.

To be clear, this is not mates having a laugh. I don't have friends who'd do that sort of thing. This is a deliberate attempt to harass, and one that I suspect will continue.

One of these coupon requests has come directly to me in error. The fluorescent orange code at the top, I understand, indicates the time, date and mail centre that received the item. So, we should be able to determine the area where the item was posted. That would give me an idea of the location of the person harassing me.

The code is a series of ascenders, descenders, full bars and track bars.

It reads:

FAADFDTTTATFTFDFTDAFFATDDTTDDTDDTADTDFTATFTFTFAAATDAFFFFDDADFTT

[TrueBlueTerrier]

The fluorescent Bar Codes printed on mail were subject to a FOI request in 2009 and unfortunately we may not be able to help you deceipher for 2 reasons.

1. You need a machine or specific software to read it.
2. This is probably covered by the various undertakings we have to sign about not releasing certain information.

I have copied the relevant text from the FOI response. http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q= ... j20KLPLQaQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The tag code and route code barcodes are orange fluorescent codes that Royal Mail applies to letter mail. There are normally two bar codes printed by Royal Mail in the orange fluorescent ink on the face of letters. The upper row (Tag code) contains data on the machine which first processes the mail item, the day of the month, the 1/2 hr period within the day and the item number within that 1/2 hour period. This data generates a code which is unique within a one month period and enables Royal Mail to associate the delivery information with the correct mail piece during a second stage of processing. The lower row (Route code) contains the delivery Postcode information together with information that represents the actual delivery point.

In relation to “how the data items are encoded into the barcode format” – To decipher the barcodes requires the relevant encoding (and decoding) algorithms which are proprietary to Royal Mail. This information is held by Royal Mail in the form of licensed software. This information was withheld under sections 41(1) and 43(1) – the exemptions for ‘information provided in confidence’ and ‘commercial interests’ respectively.

Anyone willing to decode it for must do it on the full understanding of the possible consequences.

[Straight4ward]

Is that you, cybertech?

[arnold cheshire]

how can a holiday brochure be malicious ?

[sidewinder]

how can a holiday brochure be malicious ?

Depends where the holidays are.

[arnold cheshire]

how can a holiday brochure be malicious ?

Depends where the holidays are.

thats good

[POSTMAN]

Is that you, cybertech?

No pics in the thread yet,let's hold tight.

[smartbhoy]

The usual British public, making a mountain out of a molehill. Throw any unwanted brochures in the bin. End of!