There has been a sharp rise in the number of people receiving hoax emails that claim to be from the TV Licensing department, a crime body has warned.
More than 2,500 reports of phony emails were sent to Action Fraud in September and October alone from those who have found one in their inbox.
The scam emails aim to get unsuspecting people to hand over personal and bank details to fraudsters who pretend to be from the TV Licensing department, according to the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
Here is an example of one of the emails:
The fake TV licensing emails are very convincing and hook receivers in to clicking on the links
The scam aims to catch people out by getting receivers to open the email, which is often sent with the subject lines 'correct your licensing information', 'refund due' or 'renew now'.
The body of the email will claim that they need the victim's personal details.
There are many excuses for this, including, that they need the details to complete a refund or to set up a new direct debit.
Once the victims have opened the email, they may be tempted into clicking one of the links that lurk inside.
This, in turn, takes them to a fake TV Licensing website.
The website that victims are transferred to looks very much like the TV Licensing company's website but is in fact just a convincing dupe.
It will ask the person to type in all of their details including full name, date of birth, address, telephone number, email and even their mother's maiden name, suggesting that the scammers are hoping to access other online accounts.
After the fraudsters have received that information, they will then ask victims to add in their payment details, prompting them to add in their Card Verification Value (CVV) code, account number and sort code.
Victims have been fooled into clicking on the links in emails & handing over their bank details
Once con artists have this information, they could be able to strip the victim's bank accounts as well as commit identity fraud. If you have any sort of questions regarding where and how you can use dumps shop online, you can call us at our web page.
While there are a number of scam emails being sent around of a similar nature, containing different wording, they all lead to the same fraudulent website.
Television viewers have been asked to remain vigilant to this type of fraud and take care when opening emails that purport to be from the TV Licensing department.
A TV Licensing spokesperson said: 'TV Licensing will never email customers, unprompted, to ask for bank details and/or your personal information, or tell you that you may be entitled to a refund.
'We encourage anyone who has provided their details as a result of a fraudulent email to contact their bank urgently and to report the email to Action Fraud.'
Pauline Smith, director of Action Fraud, said: 'Devious fraudsters are constantly using new tactics to trick victims into handing over their personal information, often with devastating consequences.
This is particularly nasty as it looks so convincing.
'It is vital that you spot the signs of fraudulent emails to avoid falling victim by following the protect advice below.
'We work tirelessly to stop fraudsters in their tracks and to prevent unsuspecting members of the public from falling victim to fraud.'