Scam texts attempting to dupe people regarding deliveries they haven't arranged are on the rise, according to new research.

The findings, from research company Dojo, have shown that fake texts pretending to be from reputable delivery services have seen an increase of over 600% throughout the last month.

The research findings come not long after Devon and Cornwall Police have warned the public regarding fake texts, calls and emails from the NHS, reportedly offering people Covid-19 vaccination jabs.

As well as this, Helston Town Council have also recently sent out a warning to businesses in the area regarding a card reader scam which involved people visiting businesses in the town and trying to convince them to change their card readers.

The latest data from Dojo looked at the number of Google searches for well-known text scams and discovered how these have become more prevalent over the past couple of months.

The brand with the largest increase in scam texts is the delivery service Hermes, with 880 searches for 'Hermes scam text' in March.

Over the last month, these search volumes have increased to 633% with the scammers asking potential victims to pay a shipping fee to receive their package.

Second on the list is the postal service Royal Mail, with an incredible 133k people searching for 'Royal Mail scam text' in March alone.

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The service has seen a massive search increase of 610% in the last month, with many scammers trying to impersonate the company to retrieve the details of unsuspecting customers.

The Royal Mail scam tells a similar story to Hermes, with the scammers asking people to pay a shipping fee before their package is delivered.

And It wasn't just delivery services that saw scammers take advantage of, but also the DVLA.

In the past month searches for 'DVLA text scam' have shot up from 450 searches in February to 2,150 searches in March.

This scam seems to see fraudsters impersonating the DVLA to offer the victim a vehicle tax refund, directing unsuspecting people to an online page where they are then tricked into entering their details.

Earlier in April, Devon and Cornwall Police also warned farmers of BPS payment scams that were using publicly available information regarding the payments to target specific individuals.

At the time, Tony Blake, Senior Fraud Prevention Officer at the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit said: "Criminals are well aware of when these annual payments start to arrive and will look for any opportunity to defraud their victims.

"It is vital that farmers, and other recipients of the payment, are alert to these scams and are very wary of any phone calls, texts or emails out of the blue asking for personal or financial information, or to transfer money to another account.

"If you receive such a call or message, hang up the phone and do not reply directly.

"Instead, wait five minutes and ring your bank to alert them to the scam, using a phone number that you trust – such as the one from the official website."

Cornwall Council have been contacted for comment.

For more information and advice on online fraud, visit the Action Fraud official website