Counterfeit Royal Mail stamps are allegedly being circulated across the UK by China, according to a recent investigation.

Sources close to the postal service company believe fakes from the Communist state are resulting in a hike in complaints.

In January, GB News published an exclusive investigation into stamps, revealing Britons had been forced to pay £5 for their post due to “counterfeit” stamps, despite them being bought from reputable places such as Post Office.

As a result of these counterfeits being in circulation, Britons are being slapped with a £5 penalty.

Four Chinese suppliers were identified by The Telegraph for offering to print up to one million counterfeit Royal Mail stamps weekly.

These counterfeit stamps are being sold for as little as four pence each before being delivered to the UK.

Have you been bought a counterfeit stamp from Royal Mail? Get in touch by emailing money@gbnews.uk.

Fake stamps are also being discovered on Amazon and eBay with websites imitating the Royal Mail official store, the newspaper reports.

According to The Telegraph, small retailers are unknowingly buying these stamps. These retailers are allowed to purchase stamps from wholesalers instead of from Royal Mail directly.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake said: “It is key to prevent counterfeit stamps entering our supply chain in the UK.

“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.”

In response to the accusation, a spokesman from the Chinese Embassy described the claims as “absurd” to The Times.

The spokesman 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.”

This comes after calls from GB News for Royal Mail to investigate its systems after our investigation uncovered examples of counterfeit stamps.

Last week, we revealed Royal Mail had admitted it had deemed a genuine stamp as “counterfeit” and unnecessarily charged the recipient £5.

Earlier this month, the postal service told ministers it would investigate problems with new barcoded stamps.

Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith has called for a criminal investigation, describing the forgeries as being "as bad as counterfeiting money".

Sir Iain added: "We have to ensure we deal with this in a way that tells the Chinese ‘enough is enough’ and we should be saying to the Chinese embassy, ‘why aren’t you cracking down on this?’."

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A Royal Mail spokesman told PA: “We are working hard to remove counterfeit stamps from circulation.

“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.”

A Post Office spokesperson said: “Stamps are available to buy from a number of different sources. Post Office Ltd receives its stamps direct from Royal Mail’s secure printers.

“Customers who buy stamps at Post Offices are given an itemised receipt, and this will be required to investigate any allegations of fake stamps.”