Phishing is the fraudulent practice of scammers sending emails or text messages pretending to be from legitimate organisations in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords, bank details or credit/debit card numbers. The most common scam that is used is fraudsters pretending to be TV Licensing is that they will offer people a refund or a cheaper license. However, TV License reiterates that they will never do this unless a person is contacting them and they are replying to the person.
On its website, TV Licencing has highlighted a number of ways that people can use to verify whether a text message is genuine or a scam.
The first step is to check the sender. Scammers hide their real emails but a person can check what the real email is, it is usually between the “<->” symbols.
Scammers will use different variations and spellings of TV Licensing in their emails by adding full stops and hyphens in odd places.
The email addresses used by TV Licensing are “donotreply@spp.tvlicensing.co.uk”, “donotreply@tvlicensing.co.uk” and “noreply@paypoint.com” if you are using the TVL pay app.
They also state that the text messages sent by the body will be listed as being from TV Licensing, TVLSPP or TVLPay.
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The next step is to check what is being asked as scammers often tell a person that there is a problem with their account or password. They may also claim that people need to make an urgent payment.
These messages put pressure on a person usually saying that it is something that needs to be addressed immediately which may lead to a person doing what the scammer wants.
TV licensing stated that they will never contact a person to say there is a problem with their account and that they will never ask for details such as a mother’s maiden name or a date of birth.
These details can be used by scammers to obtain passwords and access personal accounts.
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They will also never ask for immediate payment or request that a payment plan is needed to be set up.
If an email or text message is requesting something like this then it most likely will be a scam.
Scammers also send out emails and messages which include links hoping that people will click and be duped by the fake website that the fraudster has created.
TV Licensing urges Britons to not click on links that have been sent to them, even if the email or text message looks genuine. They also added that people should never put any details into the website that is shown to them.
If a person does click on the link sent to them and the site looks genuine, TV Licensing stated that the best way to check is to close the browser and head to the TV Licensing website directly.
People can also double-check that there is a lock on the left hand side of the web address bar.
TV Licensing states that it will only ask for payment details when a person has logged into their account on the official website using their license number and postcode.
The group states that people should always check what their license number is as scammers often use fake ones to confuse people.
TV licensing stated that they would only contact a person about payments if one is missed or that it’s late but they will request that a person contact the group through their official website.
The TV Licence fee, which is used to fund the BBC, currently stands at £159 a year and anyone who the BBC live or streams it through BBC iPlayer has to pay it.
People who don’t pay the TV licence fee risk prosecution, a fine of up to £1,000, or in rare cases they can even go to prison. The only exception to this is if a person is over the age of 75 and receives Pension Credit.
TV Licensing states that people should always ask. Even if they believe that the message they have received is genuine and if they are suspicious, then they should report it to Action Fraud or email report@phishing.gov.uk.
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