Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
DRIVERS WARNED IN ONLINE GOODS SCAM
23 fraud calls reported every day
SCAMMERS are targeting unsuspecting drivers in a bid to get them to hand over money for fake goods and false promises.
An average of 23 people reported a suspected scam to the DVLA every day in the last three months of 2019.
Now it has released images of recent scams to help motorists be aware of what to look out for.
And they have issued a clear warning if something offered online or by text message appears too good to be true, then it almost certainly is.
The Annual Fraud Indicator estimated in 2017 the cost of fraud to the UK was £190billion a year.
Scammers are targeting unsuspecting motorists with:
Links to services that don’t exist Messages of tax refunds, and Fake driver and vehicle documents for sale on the internet. Any motorist with concerns about calls, texts, emails or suspicious activity online, is advised to report the activity to the police via Action Fraud immediately. DVLA chief information security officer David Pope said: “We’ve released examples of real-life scams to help motorists understand when a scam is at work.
“These websites and messages are designed to trick people into believing they can access services that simply don’t exist such as removing penalty points from driving licences.
“All our tax refunds are generated automatically after a motorist has told us they have sold, scrapped or transferred their vehicle to someone else so we don’t ask for anyone to get in touch with us to claim their refund. We want to protect the public and if something seems too good to be true, then it almost certainly is. The only trusted source of DVLA information is gov.uk”
The warning comes as new figures show a 20% increase in scams reported to DVLA, with 1,538 reports made to agency from October to the end of December 2019. The reports of suspected web, email, text or social media scams were up from 1,275 in the same period in 2018.
An Action Fraud spokesperson said: “Familiarising yourself with a few simple online safety tips can be significant in protecting yourself from becoming a victim of online fraud.”