POLICE are warning residents of a new scam after a large number of reports have been received concerning an email claiming to be from HM Courts and Tribunal Services.
The email advises the recipient their vehicle has been used on a road to which a congestion charge applies.
It then states the recipient must pay a charge of £25 and this will increase to £100 if the payment is not made within 28 days.
The recipient is then asked to click on a link in order to pay the fine.
North Yorkshire Police say this is a scam email and residents are warned not to respond to it or make payment.
Other police forces are also reporting residents being targeted with this email.
Detective Inspector Jon Hodgeon, head of the Economic Crime Unit at North Yorkshire Police said: “This another example of a scam email claiming to be from an official organisation where the victim is tricked into either making a payment or divulging personal information and security details to fraudsters."
DI Hodgeon said that although the email on first glance looks genuine there are a number of indicators common to scam emails that residents need to be aware of.
These include; The senders email address not matching the organisation the email purports to come from, the email not addressing the recipient by name and in the case of this email, it does not give the car registration number and lists the area the recipient was driving in as the ‘United Kingdom’.
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