TV licence renewal scam.

[Dave7]

Situation is..... ...
I recently renewed my licence online and got an acknowledgement with reference number.
Within days I was getting messages to say payment had failed **
I have just checked and downloaded the new licence and am getting my daughter to print it off (i dont have a printer).
**the 'failed payment' messages are realistic and have the "government.com" email address.
It puzzles me how any scammer would know i have just paid.
NB
Payment isn't showing on my CC app.
Also, I have not had the promised paper licence.
Very strange and a bit worrying.

 

[MontyVeda]

If the payment isn't showing on your bank statement, then it may well have failed to go through.
If you haven't paid you won't get a paper licence until you have.
If the payment is showing on your bank statement then you have paid and should ignore anything that says otherwise.

 

[sungod]

see https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/faqs/FAQ288 you can report it to them as well

source email addresses are trivial to spoof, apparent email origin is not a trustworthy indicator

tvl do not use "government.com", if that was the actual address it's clearly fraudulent

a uk government entity would use something.gov.uk

tvl use tvlicensing.co.uk

don't assume the scammer actually knows about your recent renewal, they could be sending thousands or millions of these emails, many will coincide with recent transactions purely by chance

if you've downloaded your license from the https://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/ then it's clearly renewed, no need for a paper one, but you can always contact tvl direct to check

 

[oldandslow]

UK government addresses are gov.uk. Anything .com is in reality US, although notionally-US addresses are widely available and used worldwide.

As with real addresses, the right-hand bit can put the left-hand bit in a completely different region/zone/whatever. For example, Canterbury CT, Canterbury NZ and Canterbury UK are not in any sense the same place. So, even if it were gov.com rather than government.com, it still wouldn't be any closer to an official UK address than Canterbury CT is to the Old Palace that is the archbishop's residence in Kent.

 

[midlife]

Got an email a few days ago saying there was a problem with my tv licence direct debit.

Just deleted it as the direct debit was in July. I guess if the scammers try enough people then somebody may just have paid.

 

[Drago]

I avoid all this by not having a TV licence.

 

[glasgowcyclist]

It puzzles me how any scammer would know i have just paid.

Scammers don't know this, any more than they know you're waiting for that DPD/UPS/Amazon/Evri delivery which can't proceed until some payment is made or personal details revealed.

They cast out bait in bulk and hope someone bites. That's all.