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TV licence

(20 Posts)
Gingster Thu 03-Sept-26 17:41:14

Has anyone received e mails saying their TV licence hasn’t been paid. They say to pay now to avoid £1000 fine.
I’ve had 3 of these now.
We think it could be a scam?
Any thoughts please?

Jaxjacky Thu 03-Sept-26 17:49:33

It is a scam Gingster. How would they have your email?

MollyNew Thu 03-Sept-26 17:51:23

I've just googled this and apparently there is an email scam going around regarding the TV Licence. If you're concerned, I would either check the TV Licence website or give them a call. Don't click on any links in the email.

Ziplok Thu 03-Sept-26 17:53:36

Yes, a scam. Do not click on any of the links in the mail.

Magenta8 Thu 03-Sept-26 17:55:10

I haven't had one recently but at one time I was getting several every week. They quoted some fictitious customer reference number and told me that I had not paid and I was liable to be fined if I didn't follow the link and make a payment right away.

Fortunately, I earmark my annual receipts and I pay by DD so I was able to refer back to my latest receipt and the customer reference they quoted was nothing like the one on my genuine e-mail receipt. I reported it as a scam several times before I stopped receiving the messages.

I hope this is helpful.

Georgesgran Thu 03-Sept-26 18:50:28

I pay for my tv licence and also for both DDs by direct debit, so when I got this ‘scam’, I checked that the monthly payments were being made and ignored it.

Gingster Thu 03-Sept-26 20:56:13

Yes we pay by Dd.
Thanks everyone, I did think it was a scam

Madmeg Thu 03-Sept-26 23:50:13

I had this yesterday. Binned it pronto.

nanna8 Fri 04-Sept-26 01:16:35

Sounds like a scam. I wouldn’t be paying it anyway, wouldn’t watch the BBC on principle. You can get their news free and that is all you need really.

MT62 Fri 04-Sept-26 07:56:49

Neither do we nanna 8

BlueBelle Fri 04-Sept-26 08:01:45

There’s a lot more programmes on BBC than the news Nana8
I m sure your Australian programmes are good enough though without BBC
Do you pay a licence fee over there?

Charleygirl5 Fri 04-Sept-26 08:08:39

If money was owed you would receive an official letter rather than an email.

Gingerrice Fri 04-Sept-26 08:34:34

Its less than price of a coffee per week and at least it's ad free so I'm happy to pay it .
But I've also had lots of those annoying scam demands

nanna8 Fri 04-Sept-26 08:41:13

Not available legally here,the BBC but it seems to come up on our tv . Only news though, not iview. No, of course we don’t pay. We don’t have to. We have our own ABC and if they tried to have an old fashioned system of licenses there would be a riot 😁 It dates back to the start of tv broadcasting I think, we were slow off the mark and never had to have a licence.

Calendargirl Fri 04-Sept-26 08:44:46

BlueBelle

There’s a lot more programmes on BBC than the news Nana8
I m sure your Australian programmes are good enough though without BBC
Do you pay a licence fee over there?

I’ve stayed in Oz on several occasions.

No, their Freeview tv is worse than ours.

BlueBelle Fri 04-Sept-26 08:48:24

Do you pay for things like Netflix etc though? I guess it’s swings and roundabouts probably pay more than the licence fee if you have more than one platform and as gingerrice says less than a cup of coffee a week.
I don’t have a problem with it although it used to be free to over 75 s and the year I became 75 they changed it …. Sod’s Law eh

nanna8 Fri 04-Sept-26 10:19:04

We pay for Netflix but only about $10 a month because we opted to have ads and that made it cheaper . Also Amazon Prime , not sure how much but not a lot. We have a lot of free channels,too, some better than others. The ABC isn’t brilliant but it is good for news. Not as good as the BBC . SBS is very good, another free government channel multi cultural. I think that is better than the ABC.

TheWeirdoAgain60 Fri 04-Sept-26 10:35:11

Definitely a scam. The genuine TV Mafia shouldn't have your email details unless you have given it to them.

I keep getting threatening and intimidating letters from the TV Mafia demanding I pay a fortune for a load of codswallop, with threats of being sued and jailed; they'll break into my flat, and take my things to cover the licence cost, etc. but they can't just break in, they have to have a copper with them and it's rare when a court actually issues them to do such things, so I'm not worried, but I shred them unopened as I've never had a telly and never will!

TheWeirdoAgain60 Fri 04-Sept-26 11:20:59

Also, check your email address details for the sending email, as Capita Business Services Ltd administers and enforces the TV licence system on behalf of the BBC. They are a legal system, so if you get communications from them, you're OK, but of the sender says ''to sue smith'' from [email protected]'' then it's some type of scam because it's from a single personal email address, not a personal one.

I had 3 emails yesterday from a single personal account in China claiming I owe them £450.00 for a licence, but China doesn't have TV licensing, and Cable and IPTV are no more than about £3.50!

Blocked, unread and reported!

TheWeirdoAgain60 Fri 04-Sept-26 11:26:47

Sorry, I meant ''from a single personal email address, not a professional one.''!