Panorama focused on the scam mailings that are sent from fraudulent parties in a bid to capitalise on vulnerable members of society by promising prizes such as cash.

According to the BBC, it aimed to look at the role Royal Mail is playing by delivering such mail through its letters business. The programme pointed out that Royal Mail delivered 1.7bn pieces of junk mail to British homes in 2010 then added that scam mail cons cost victims £2.4bn per annum.

However, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has hit back at the show, insisting that Panorama "confused matters".
A spokesperson said: "While both are of great concern, the programme addressed both as if they had similar causes, similar effects and should be dealt with in a similar manner.

"Scam mail is a criminal activity that involves unscrupulous con artists fleecing the vulnerable. Junk mail is not the product of criminal enterprise, but it does have certain consequences, which the industry has been addressing."

Howard Matthews, chief executive of Loricas Solutions, said to focus on the targeting of vulnerable people from scam mail was a "completely different issue".

"Royal Mail and The DMA Mailing Houses Council have worked with the Metropolitan Police in an effort to stamp out this unacceptable use of the postal services," he said.

Lance Hill group sales and marketing director at 4DM, was frustrated that Royal Mail did not involve itself with the show to defend direct mail in the process.

"The other major frustration is the green agenda and all the nonsense about landfill, which completely ignored the fact that newsprint generates something like six or seven times more landfill than direct mail," he added.

The show, partly filmed in Cornwall, estimated 4,000 tonnes of junk mail from various sources are ending up in the county’s landfill every year. According to the DMA, it was not confident that Panorama’s estimate that junk mail costs the UK taxpayer £50m every year stands up to scrutiny.

"The calculation was based on Cornwall County Council’s estimated cost of disposing of unwanted advertising mail and extrapolated from that. However, the volumes it cites include more types of waste paper than just advertising mail," it added.