Britons are being urged to be aware of a new TV Licensing scam circulating to steal personal information.
North Yorkshire Police recently issued an alert to warn households of the fraudulent email, including certain red flags to look out for to avoid falling victim.
TV Licensing administers the collection of TV Licence fees and typically communicates with households by text, email and post.
However, Andy Hugill, a digital PCSO for North Yorkshire Police, said: “Genuine TV Licensing emails are sent from donotreply@tvlicensing.co.uk or donotreply@spp.tvlicensing.co.uk.
“If you have provided TV Licensing with your postcode details, their emails will include part of your postcode and/or the name on the licence.
“If you’ve given TV Licensing your name, then they’ll always address you using your last name and title. The scammers won’t normally have that information about you. So, watch out for emails that only address you as ‘Dear client’ or ‘Dear customer’ – or use your email address (or part of it).”
Mr Hugill noted that scammers can’t use genuine TV Licensing web addresses or email addresses so they typically spell things differently or may include hyphens or full stops in random places.
People should also look out for grammatical errors in any correspondence from TV Licensing, as this could also indicate a scam.
Mr Hugill also warned people to “be wary” of emails that promise money or refunds followed by a request to provide bank details, as TV Licensing “would never” process a refund in that way.
He added: “The advice is to forward scam emails to the National Cyber Security Centre on report@phishing.gov.uk.”
According to a survey from interactive investor, one in 12 (eight percent) of respondents had lost money to a financial scam in the past three years.
Younger people were more likely to be victims, with 15 percent of respondents aged 40 or under losing money during that period.
Myron Jobson, senior personal finance analyst at interactive investor, said: “The latest UK Finance figures show that the battle against the scourge of financial scams is hard fought, with the amount lost through financial scams falling relatively modestly on a year-on-year basis.
“Financial scams are like the multiple-headed hydra from Greek mythology, where every time one scam is exposed, many more emerge in its wake. Recent history has seen the evolution of cons, notable impersonation and romance scams, which have a significant financial and emotional toll on victims.
“The internet continues to be a rich trolling ground for unscrupulous individuals to convince unsuspecting victims to part with their hard-earned money. Fraudsters are only too willing to exploit any ignorance or naivety.”
He added: “The harsh reality is scams have become a begrudge part of everyday life. Any progress made in stemming the tide of financial scams is welcome – and the silver lining is there has been a significant uptick in the amount returned to victims.”
