A convincing new scam text about an unpaid parking fine is circulating and leads to a copycat government website.
Copycat websites aim to earn your trust by mimicking official organisations and known brands, often government bodies, transport companies or couriers.
Typically, these scams charge you a fee for something you can do for free or tell you you’ve done something wrong and need to pay a fine to avoid further payments or even legal action.
Here, we look at this new scam text and website and explain how you can spot this scam and report it.
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The dodgy phishing website is a very convincing copy of the official government website, complete with accurate logos, branding and font.
It links to other pages on the website, such as ‘parking fines and penalty charge notices, ‘challenge a parking fine’ and ‘parking and public transport’ actually leads to the official government website pages on these topics.
We wrote random characters into the ‘vehicle registration’ box and each time where given a bogus PCN (penalty charge) number and told we owed a £25 fine.
The location listed for the fine was also the area we were located in, meaning that the page could be using the user’s IP address to know where they’re located to make the scam more convincing.
After this page, you’re asked for more personal and payment data including your name, email, phone number and home address to pay the fine.
The only sign indicating that this website was fraudulent was the URL. All official government pages start with gov.uk.
Spotting and reporting this scam
Seen or been affected by a scam? Help us protect others
If you receive an unexpected text message, don't be tempted to click on any links or follow instructions to log into any accounts. Links can contain malware that could infect your device and lead to scammers doing further damage.
If you're concerned that you've clicked a dodgy link, you should perform a factory reset on your device and consider installing antivirus software. Do not log into any accounts until you have done so.
There are four steps you can take to check whether you're on a copycat website:
Check the URL - if it doesn't begin with 'https' or is different to what you're expecting, then don't visit it.
Check for slight changes in the website address - scammers will often mimic an official website address, hoping you won't spot a small typo or slight change to the address.
How did you find the website? If you were directed to it from a message or online advert, you should question it.
Read the pages on the website - it may say that it’s not officially affiliated with the actual organisation.
You can also report the scam to Action Fraud or call the police on 101 if you’re in Scotland. If you lose money to a scam, contact your bank immediately using the number on the back of your card.
