BBC TV licence payers targeted with email phishing scam

A TELEVISION licence fraud warning has been issued, as a phishing watchdog said scammers were mimicking emails to dupe BBC licence-fee payers.

Action Fraud, the UK national fraud reporting centre, warned of a recent surge in scam TV licence refund messages sent to thousands of email addresses.

From September to October, more than 2,500 complaints were sent to Action Fraud. Nearly 800 of these reports occurred between Sept 1-20 – an average of 40 complaints a day.

The fake emails, sent by scammers in a bid to steal bank account and personal details, claimed that TV Licensing had been trying to get hold of individuals regarding a refund for an overpayment, but due to invalid account details it had not been paid.

The fraudsters include links to convincing-looking cloned TV Licensing websites designed to harvest bank account and credit card details.

Victims who fall for the email are asked for a lengthy list of personal and financial information, including full name, date of birth, address, mother’s maiden name and bank details.

Consumer group Which?, which is monitoring the situation, warned that scammers often add details to a “suckers lists” of people who are liable to fall for future scams, commonly sold on the dark web.

A spokesman for Which? said: “It’s unclear why there has been such a sharp increase in these scam emails, but we will be keeping an eye on the situation. If you’ve entered personal details, you need to be extra vigilant.

“If you receive any suspicious emails or odd postal messaging going forward, ignore them – they could be from a scammer hoping you’ll fall for their next scam.”