Be on your guard

Posted: August 10th, 2020

The campaigning organisation for pensioners in the UK, the National Pensioners’ Convention, has released valuable guidance on current scams affecting people of a certain age. You can read more about their actitivies on their website: https://www.npcuk.org/

Here’s the gen.

TV Licensing
TV Licensing has started sending letters to anyone aged over 75 asking them either to pay for their TV licence or apply for a free one. Their letter will include your licence number, your title and your last name and they will only ask you to pay using the following options:
By post using the address TV Licensing, PO Box 578, Darlington DL98 1AN
Online at tvl.co.uk/75pay or tvl.co.uk/75apply
Over the phone on 0300 790 6151
If you are contacted and asked to pay for your TV licence using a different phone number, a different website or by posting your details to a different address, this is a scam.

TV Licensing will not come to your doorstep to collect the licence fee if you are over 75, so anyone who claims to do so is also a scammer.

If you’re unsure about anything, you can call TV Licensing on 0300 303 9695.

Some people are receiving texts offering a free TV licence for a year. They are asked to text your bank details back to them in order to get the free licence. Please don’t respond to this text, it is a scam and you have the potential to lose your money and your identity.

Other emails claim you owe money to the TVLA and urge ypu to go online to pay it. Some emails also state you could go to court if you don’t pay. It’s a scam.

Letters supposedly from Television Licensing Authority (TVLA) say your details need updating because there is something wrong. They ask you to go online and put your personal details in. Again this is a scam.

As time passes, we are likely to see more scams around the TV licence issue, so please make sure you check by making a phone call that whatever you have received is legitimate.

TVLA will always use the last part of your post code. along with your TV licence number in all communications with you you.

NHS Test & Trace
The original scam on this was shut down by the Fraud Action Line. However, it is operating from another phone number and will text you asking for payment. The NHS will never ask you to pay. Report to Fraud Action Line on 0300 123 2040

COVID-19 If you get offers of cheap sanitiser, masks, or test equipment is likely to be a scam. In some cases, the sanitiser has been known to cause damage to the skin. Do not pay for test equipment. The NHS or your GP will offer it free.

For more information on these scams and others, use these links:

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/scams/check-if-something-might-be-a-scam/

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/scams

https://www.fca.org.uk/scamsmart