The online letters, bearing the TV Licensing logo, state that the customer is due a refund on their TV licence fee. A link is provided to claim the refund but it is actually a bid to steal victims’ banking or credit card details.
The States police have received a number of reports about the scam.
‘We have been made aware of a number of Island residents receiving official-looking correspondence from what at first appears to be the UK TV Licensing authority offering refunds,’ said a spokeswoman.
‘We can confirm that these letters that have been received by email or over Facebook are false and have been designed to obtain your bank details.’
Police advise that these letters should be deleted or forwarded to Crimereduction@Jersey.pnn.police.uk.
Make no attempt to contact or call the sender, the spokesperson said.
The phishing scam seems to target older Islanders. Age Concern chairwoman Senator Sarah Ferguson is urging pensioners to pay close attention and to delete all suspicious-looking emails.
‘Don’t click it, don’t call anybody, just kill it straight away,’ she said.
Similar scams have been going around for roughly a year, she said, with letters claiming to be from the DVLA, banks and other organisations always offering refunds.
Action Fraud UK put out a warning about the new scam on 23 September after hundreds of reports were made on the mainland. They offered the following
tips:
lCheck that the email contains your name – TV Licensing will always include your name in any emails they send you.
lCheck the email address – does the email address look like one that TV Licensing use? For example donotreply@tvlicensing.co.uk. Look closely as often the address may be similar.
lCheck for spelling and grammar – are there any spelling mistakes, missing full stops or other grammatical errors?
lNever provide details by email – TV Licensing will never ask you to reply to an email and provide bank details or personal information.
