Vehicle tax email scam - what to look out for & what to do

Fraudsters are continuing to use fake vehicle tax emails as a means to obtain sensitive information.

The DVLA have issued warnings about them in the past, and Which? has now compiled a number of examples so you don’t get caught out.

Here are some examples of what to look out for:

Credit: Which?

Which? say: “The above example was sent earlier this year directly to a Which? member of staff.

“It includes an attempt at personalisation with the recipient’s email address repeated in the first line.

“This is a clever tactic for making the email appear genuine with minimal effort, however it clearly does not stand up to scrutiny when you realise that the fraudsters must already have knowledge of your email address to send the phishing attempt in the first place.

Credit: Which?

“This more recent example again makes threats in order to panic a potential victim into taking quick action they’ll later regret.

“‘Enforcement action’ and ‘not adhering to the terms of the Direct Debit guarantee’ are all attempts to cause worry and upset – emotions those behind emails like this are attempting to take advantage of.”

A DVLA spokesman said: “DVLA never asks for bank details over email and never sends text messages about vehicle tax refunds.

“As we regularly advise our customers, the only place to access official information on DVLA and its services is GOV.UK.

“Customers should report any suspicious emails they receive to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) via their suspicious email service, and forward suspicious text messages to their network provider to investigate, on 7726 free of charge.

“Anyone who believes they have been the victim of fraud should report this to the police via Action Fraud. DVLA regularly publishes advice on GOV.UK and across all our channels, including top tips to help motorists stay safe online.”

If you think you may have fallen victim to a scam, you should let your bank know immediately.