TV Licensing scam emails often claim your payment failed, your license is expiring, or you are owed a refund, using urgent language to steal personal and financial information. Key indicators include suspicious sender addresses, generic greetings like "Dear Customer," and links to fake websites. Do not click links; forward suspicious emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.
Spotting a Fake Email
Use these checks to verify any message you receive:
- Sender's Email Address: Genuine emails are sent only from
donotreply@tvlicensing.co.uk or donotreply@spp.tvlicensing.co.uk. Be wary of "spoofed" addresses that look similar but have slight spelling differences. - Personalisation: A real email will almost always include your last name and title (if provided) and/or part of your postcode. Scams often use generic greetings like "Dear Customer" or "Dear Client".
- Urgent or "Too Good" Requests: Scammers frequently claim there is an "issue with your payment" or offer a "refund" to create urgency. TV Licensing will never email you unprompted to ask for bank details or offer a refund via email.
- Spelling & Grammar: Look for awkward phrasing, random capitalisation, or the American spelling of "license" (with an 's') instead of the British "licence".
- Suspicious Links: Hover over links (without clicking) to see the actual web address. Genuine links will always go to
www.tvlicensing.co.uk or spp.tvlicensing.co.uk.
What to Do Next
- Do not click any links: Never enter personal or financial information on a site reached via an email link.
- Verify independently: To check your status safely, go directly to the official TV Licensing website and sign in to your account.
- Report the email: Forward the suspicious message to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk.
- If you've already shared details: Contact your bank immediately and report the incident to Action Fraud (the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime) or call 0300 123 2040.