DVLA vehicle tax scam warning

[T6 vanman]

Hi all

Just received an e-mail this morning


My first thought was what are the fkwits on about as I've SORN the motorcycle for winter 10 days ago,

I opened the link Doh…!



Now as it didn't report a registration and I have 2 motorcycles SORN I stopped there and waited for this evening

This evening I checked both bikes and they report as SORN on the official DVLA site
Note the differences in the site appearance



The real DVLA site is (I've removed the HTT from HTTP(S)
ps://www.gov.uk/check-vehicle-tax

The fake was
p://www.dvla.services.co.uk-6159368de39251d7a-login.id.security.trackid.piwikb7c1867dd7ba9c57.31bca053d937e62e194a0bd445800b45.ssa-va.org/.x/data/ff0f18863afc12f128f93d89e900211e/vehicle.php?&sessionid=6d448f733c78ee9a4510e5dd0c303ffb&securessl=true

Be careful out there

[Monkeylegend]

"Avoiding unpleasant consequences" is a bit of a giveaway, they would never say that, would they?

Doesn't seem like DVLA jargon.

[crmcatee]

Always find the last .org/ .com/ or .co.uk/ Then work your way left. If immediately to the left isn't the domain you think it should be(in this case 'gov' don't click it.

In fact - I never click on links in emails like these.

[Caddyshack]

Monkeylegend said:

"Avoiding unpleasant consequences" is a bit of a giveaway, they would never say that, would they?

Doesn't seem like DVLA jargon.

Agreed, also the subject line onthe original has the padlock symbol and the fake site says gbp 1000 which is a foreign way of putting it, DVLA would say £1000

But, this is a good way to share the info, so thank you

[anonymous-user]

crmcatee said:

Always find the last .org/ .com/ or .co.uk/ Then work your way left. If immediately to the left isn't the domain you think it should be(in this case 'gov' don't click it.

In fact - I never click on links in emails like these.

All government web sites are .gov.uk

[Ace-T]

If you haven't reported it already, here is the ActionFraud site.

https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

[T6 vanman]

Unfortunately the e-mail was received on my phone and so I opened it there,

Once I opened it at home the fact it was a http rather than a secure https (with padlock) was a telltale

I phoned DVLA and checked it wasn't from them & reported, they took the details

I'm not naïve but guiltily I could have progressed it on the phone easily

[Caddyshack]

T6 vanman said:

Unfortunately the e-mail was received on my phone and so I opened it there,

Once I opened it at home the fact it was a http rather than a secure https (with padlock) was a telltale

I phoned DVLA and checked it wasn't from them & reported, they took the details

I'm not naïve but guiltily I could have progressed it on the phone easily

Thanks for posting, I know my mother in law would have been caught out by it.

[Caddyshack]

These things work well when the owner knows damn well that they have not taxed it and then panic.

[Condi]

Caddyshack said:

These things work well when the owner knows damn well that they have not taxed it and then panic.

A bit like the TV licence reminders they keep sending in the post?

[Blown2CV]

the original email is from '[e-mail]'. A good tip is to look at that before you even bother trying to validate further.

[Alex Z]

T6 vanman said:

Unfortunately the e-mail was received on my phone and so I opened it there

If I have a link I’m not sure about (or more likely I know it’s dodgy and want a nose), I always open it on my iPhone as that’s more secure than a windows device.

[MitchT]

Taxed my car a few hours ago, then got a text...

[Blown2CV]

uk-refund-ref61.com

does not sound like a genuine government domain...

[T6 vanman]

Agreed that domain does look dodgy,

I'd also edit your photo to remove your number ……..

You wouldn't want any unsolicited texts

[Blown2CV]

T6 vanman said:

Agreed that domain does look dodgy,

I'd also edit your photo to remove your number ……..

You wouldn't want any unsolicited texts

that's the scammer's number

[eliot]

Blown2CV said:

uk-refund-ref61.com

does not sound like a genuine government domain...

Indeed.
For that to come up on your phone I would be properly paranoid .
poster above - ensure you machine is fully patched and your antivirus is up to date, because something has skimmed your info imo.

[MitchT]

Blown2CV said:

T6 vanman said:

Agreed that domain does look dodgy,

I'd also edit your photo to remove your number ……..

You wouldn't want any unsolicited texts

that's the scammer's number

Yeah, it's the scammers number. Knock yourselves out

[T6 vanman]

MitchT said:

Blown2CV said:

T6 vanman said:

Agreed that domain does look dodgy,

I'd also edit your photo to remove your number ……..

You wouldn't want any unsolicited texts

that's the scammer's number

Yeah, it's the scammers number. Knock yourselves out

Not got this internet security licked yet have I

[Blown2CV]

eliot said:

Blown2CV said:

uk-refund-ref61.com

does not sound like a genuine government domain...

Indeed.
For that to come up on your phone I would be properly paranoid .
poster above - ensure you machine is fully patched and your antivirus is up to date, because something has skimmed your info imo.

there is nothing to be paranoid about. That text probably went out to a ton of guessed numbers. It has nothing to do with any tax recently paid, and they won't have that info either. It's just a coincidence. There is nothing personalised in the text, it's totally generic. Forward it to giff gaff's spam/scam report number, delete it and forget about it.