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TV LICENCE SCAM EMAIL BEWARE.

(50 Posts)
SueSocks Sun 09-Dec-18 23:13:15

I have just noticed an email supposedly from TV licensing, saying that my TV licence expired on 1st Dec & there was a problem with the direct debit payment, also details of what to do to avoid this being referred to a debt collection agency.
It looked genuine, had the correct logo etc.
Alarm bells rang as I was fairly sure that it didn't expire in December. On checking my licence is valid till August of next year and the payment left my bank account months ago!
Looking at it again, it is addressed to "Dear customer", suspicious!
I am 100% sure this is a scam & that acting on this would probably give people access to your bank accounts.
I have never seen this before - hence this post to make people aware.
Worrying that so many of these scams are taking place.

mumofmadboys Mon 10-Dec-18 04:18:29

I have also had this e mail twice. It looks very genuine. Mine was supposedly due 1st Dec as well. I happen to know ours runs out at the end of Jan so that raised alarm bells.

DanniRae Mon 10-Dec-18 07:50:02

Thanks for the warning Sue!!

floorflock Mon 10-Dec-18 11:10:26

I have had two of these emails too. But they used an email address that I don't generally use for important stuff so I knew it was a scam.

Brightphoebus Mon 10-Dec-18 11:14:07

I got sent two of these too. You’re taken in for a few seconds because it looks so convincing.

Liz46 Mon 10-Dec-18 11:14:50

I've been getting them almost every day for weeks now. I did a quick check of my direct debit and it is fine. I also looked to see if tv licensing had an address so that I could forward the rubbish but couldn't find one.

jenni123 Mon 10-Dec-18 11:15:00

It is definitely a scam and TV licencing already know about it. I knew it was a scam because I don't have to have a TV licence now. Contacted TV Licencing and they said yes they did know about it

NudeJude Mon 10-Dec-18 11:18:09

Thanks for putting out the warning SueSocks, it's so important that we share this sort of information, and try and prevent as many people as possible being drawn into this sort of scam.

I actually had a phone call the other day from a company that I've instructed to looking into whether I had PPI, they wanted me to confirm my date of birth and other personal information before they would hold a conversation with me. I pointed out, that although I had dealings with the company, there was no guarantee that my post hadn't been intercepted, and so I wasn't prepared to give this information on the phone. The lady I spoke to said, well I could do a part check, for example you give me the date and month, and I'll confirm the year. However, having seen the ad on TV where they show the woman chatting on the phone with a customer, she asks for the 1st and 3rd digit of their passcode and then says 'oh, sorry, that should have been the 2nd and 4th', thereby gaining ALL of the code, I decided that I wasn't prepared to do that either. In the end, I asked her what it was that she was actually calling about, and she said it was just to check that I'd received the papers I needed to sign!!! Why would they need my date of birth etc. to ask that? So I'm still wondering if it was actually a genuine call, but am glad that I was on the ball and didn't give away valuable information.

Be careful out there people, there are so many scams going on that you really do have to be aware ALL of the time.

Riverwalk Mon 10-Dec-18 11:26:18

I received one last week.

The give away signs were, an exclamation mark after 'We have a refund for you!', and Licence misspelt grin

Allykat1946 Mon 10-Dec-18 11:29:58

Hi To all. What is the TV license that one has to pay.. I am in Australia and we don't have to pay for our TV..

Aepgirl Mon 10-Dec-18 11:43:04

Yes, I’ve had this too. Just send it on to [email protected]. It will be logged and investigated. Then delete it immediately.

Juliepuk Mon 10-Dec-18 11:55:46

My DH received the same email. It does look very genuine but he knows we pay quarterly so checked the bank account and the payment had gone out. Another phishing scam. Beware!

valeriej43 Mon 10-Dec-18 11:57:46

I have had scam emails supposedly from, Paypal, and also from a bank i am not with, got one [genuine] one from ebay the other day saying dont accept any email that starts dear customer,or doesnt have your full name as they are not genuine,
I sometimes get them with a note at the top saying click here if you think this is a scam, but i just delete

00mam00 Mon 10-Dec-18 12:15:10

I have received several phone calls through the year telling me my washing machine cover has run out. Well I know when I renew it, so knew they were scams, also of course the broadband scam. If I have time and feel naughty, I string them along just to waste their time, they get so cross when they realise and slam the phone down.

As for the emails, I never click on a link and only ever check anything by going direct to the websites.

There are also the Facebook requests from people you have never heard of or from people you are already linked to but who have old unused Facebook pages that somehow scammers get into.

ReadyMeals Mon 10-Dec-18 12:17:34

It can't be genuine if you think about it. We pay for our license in advance so all that happens if you don't pay is you won't get a license. There is no debt to collect

00mam00 Mon 10-Dec-18 13:23:58

Many years ago the post office decided to add an extra line into our address, the tv licensing decided there are two houses at our address and started sending threatening letters to the ‘new’ house. We ignored it for years and were never fined or cut off. I finally took them to task a couple of years ago and they have now stopped the threatening letters.

Liz46 Mon 10-Dec-18 13:24:51

When I ignored them, they sent a threatening email saying that they were sending someone to our house on Tuesday! If you were a frail person, maybe living alone that could be a bit intimidating.

sandye Mon 10-Dec-18 13:55:57

I also had one from pay pal so look out for that too

Willow10 Mon 10-Dec-18 14:15:01

I've had the tv licence one, the PayPal one and also Lloyds and Barclays bank - and I don't bank with either. There really ought to be some way of cracking down on these scammers, they must be making millions from vulnerable people.

Theoddbird Mon 10-Dec-18 14:22:33

I am thinking the one I had was a scam then. I called the licencing place as I had checked bank and monthly payment was going out. Was told to ignore it as all was well with my licence

Pudding123 Mon 10-Dec-18 14:35:09

Yes,I have had these paypal,tv licence for a second was a bit worried then thought it through looked again and realised the spelling and English were atrocious and deleted them but am appalled to think how many people may fall prey to these unscrupulous criminals.

JanaNana Mon 10-Dec-18 16:26:15

We also had an email like this, I was quite sure we had paid it in August. When I told my husband he confirmed he had paid it himself at the post office
and has always done so. This scam assumed everyone paid on line, as TV licencing don't have our email address.
A few months ago I had an email supposedly from NatWest saying there was a problem with my account! I have never banked with them at all.!

CrazyGrandma2 Mon 10-Dec-18 17:11:56

If I'm ever unsure I run the suspect email address through this website www.scamadviser.com If there's any danger of it being phoney I just hit the delete button without opening it.

Marieeliz Mon 10-Dec-18 17:17:48

I had the TV licence one. I am over 75 so do not pay a licence to deleted it.

Magrithea Mon 10-Dec-18 17:28:16

Anything that begins 'Dear Customer' or similar and purports to be from a trusted provider is likely to be a scam! Did you renew you licence online? If not how would they have your email address?