Never click on anything you are unsure of.
Road tax is stressful – you have to have if your car, motorcycle, or any other vehicle is on the road itself. Even if you are exempt for paying – for instance, if you are disabled – you have to be registered.
Which means it’s the sort of thing that unscrupulous types can take advantage of.
The DVLA has issued a warning about a text scam going around that you should be aware of. Potential victims have been receiving the following text, telling them that that are owed a refund on their road tax of £50.
https://twitter.com/claumeszaros/status/990514835090755584
We have recalculated your vehicle tax. You are owed £48.84 due to over payment. Click the secure link to claim your refund.
The DVLA have issued a warming, telling anyone who receives the message to delete it, and that they would not send that information via text message.
Hi, we don't send text messages about vehicle tax refunds, it is a scam. Please delete the message and don't click the link
— DVLA (@DVLAgovuk) May 1, 2018
Hi, we don’t send text messages about vehicle tax refunds, it is a scam. Please delete the message and don’t click the link.
So we haven’t clicked that link, for obvious reasons – but it is almost definitely a ‘phishing’ scam.
According to government advice, key signs of phishing and spam messages to be aware of are:
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You don’t know the sender.
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Contains misspellings (for example ‘p0rn’ with a zero) designed to fool spam filters.
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Makes an offer that seems too good to be true.
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The subject line and contents do not match.
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Contains an urgent offer end date (for example “Buy now and get 50% off”).
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Contains a request to forward an email to multiple people, and may offer money for doing so.
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Contains a virus warning.
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Contains attachments, which could include .exe files.
Crucially, you never click on any link you are unsure of, or open an attachment from an unknown sender.
