Fake charge... from the Indian Ocean
R.F. writes: I have received an email, supposedly from HM Courts and Tribunals Service, imposing a penalty for failure to pay a road charge. I think this is a scam, as the penalty notice does not include my car’s registration number or say where the so-called infringement happened, and we have not travelled anywhere that applies a charge for using the roads.
THE penalty notice looks official and is better written than most fake demands, but you are absolutely right, it is a scam. You are told that the penalty is £ 50, reduced to £25 if you pay at once, but doubled if you fail to pay within 28 days. There is also the threat of court action.
There is no address on the penalty notice, and the phone number it displays is out of service. You are asked to click on a link and give your credit or debit card details to make the payment. Needless to say, that would make as much sense as handing a burglar the keys to your house.
The link leads to a payment website with an internet address ending . io. T This is the suffix allocated to websites in the British Indian Ocean Territory, a group of tiny islands that are flyspecks on the map. Your £ 25 might have made some islander very happy, but it certainly would never have reached HM Courts and Tribunals Service.