From April last year, hybrid petrol-electric cars registered between 1st March 2001 and 31st March 2017 became subject to vehicle tax of £20.00 per year. My car falls into this category and the vehicle tax on it is due for renewal by the end of this month. I received a renewal reminder by post just after Christmas and I put it to one side and put a note in my diary to renew my vehicle tax before it was due.
I was therefore somewhat surprised to receive a total of five daily email reminders from the DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) to renew my vehicle tax, including a hotlink to the relevant webpage on the DVLA’s website.
Now, I’m a careful person and I am always wary about following hot links from unsolicited emails, even though they look official … and these did look very convincing. I therefore checked the email address that the emails had come from … and they were NOT from the DVLA!
If I had followed the hotlink, I would have been duped into giving my debit card details to fake website … and no doubt my bank account would have been cleared out before I realised it.
I was lucky … and decided to share this story with my regular blog readers to make sure that none of them fall for this very convincing scam.
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BOB,
ReplyDeleteWe must be on guard for scams every time we go on the computer net. The crooks spoil it for all of us. Regards. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteVery true. All we can do is to be as vigilant as we can be.
All the best,
Bob
Well done, Bob. Thank goodness for lazy scammers who can't be bothered to find out your name or where you bank. "Dear vehicle owner" is an immediate give-away, since DVLA would know your name and registration number. I've been phoned by "the energy adviser for your local area" (really, where's that?) or from "your bank" (which one?).
ReplyDeleteIt'll be a scary day when one of these callers actually knows my name or any other relevant detail.
Pompey Dave,
DeleteUnlike some of the really ham fisted scam attempts I’ve been subjected to in the past, this one was a lot more convincing that normal. It did have the telltale giveaway of not addressing me by name and it was sent to an email address that is pretty well defunct. However, I can imagine someone who didn’t read it as throughly as I did might have been taken in, hence the reason for writing this blog post as a warning.
Coincidentally, we’ve had three scam cold calls today as well, covering compensation claims for damage to my house due to flooding (I live at the top of a hill!), accidents I’ve (not) had, and compromised bank cards from a bank I don’t have an account with!
All the best,
Bob
Sounds to me, Bob, that that tax regime on selected vehicles was itself a scam. One also forms the impression that our modern world, thanks to the timeserving incompetents who call themselves a government, has become a scammer's paradise. They themselves are scammers!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteThe vehicle tax regime - along with the local Congestion Charges and Ultra Low Emissions Zone - is making car ownership increasingly expensive in London. On top of that, large areas have a 20mph speed limit and most major roads are being rebuilt to accommodate bus lanes and dedicated cycle lanes. This is part of a government-backed policy to eventually make London a car-free area and to make Londoners dependent on public transport.
All the best,
Bob