📺 TV Licence Scam Emails UK — How to Check and Report Them

Sunday, 02 August 2026

Fake TV Licence emails are one of the most common phishing scams in the UK. Criminals send emails claiming your licence has expired, you owe money, or you're owed a refund — with a link that steals your card details.

Because almost every household has a TV licence, the scam has a huge reach. Here's how to tell whether the email in front of you is genuine, and exactly what to do next.

📋 Quick answer: TV Licensing never emails you a link to pay or to claim a refund. Don't click anything. Forward the email to [email protected], forward a scam text to 7726, and if you've entered card details, call your bank's fraud line immediately.

The main TV Licence scams

Scam How it works
Refund email "You're owed £67.50 — claim your refund" → fake page asks for card details
Unpaid licence threat "Your licence is overdue — you face a £1,000 fine" → pay now link
Payment failed "Your direct debit failed — update payment details"
Account suspended "Your TV licence account has been locked" → verify details
Fake fee increase "The licence fee is increasing — confirm your details to avoid charges"
Fake app / QR codes Doorstep and QR variants pointing to fake payment pages

How to spot a fake TV Licence email

  • Sender address — real TV Licensing emails come from @tvlicensing.co.uk or @email.tvlicensing.co.uk. Check the actual address, not the display name
  • Urgency — "immediate action", "final reminder", "£1,000 fine"
  • Threats — genuine TV Licensing won't threaten a fine by email
  • Links — hover: lookalike domains (tvlicens-ing, tv-licence-refund, etc.)
  • Requests for payment — TV Licensing never asks for card details via email link
  • Poor spelling and logos — cloned but slightly off branding

⚠️ The golden rule: TV Licensing never emails you a link to pay or claim a refund. Payments and refunds are handled through your account at tvlicensing.co.uk — always go there directly.

How to check whether the email is genuinely from TV Licensing

You never need to judge the email itself. Check your account instead — that's the only source that can't be faked.

  1. Open a new tab and type tvlicensing.co.uk yourself. Never click through from the email, and don't search for "TV Licensing" and click the first ad result.
  2. Log in and read your actual status — your payment history, direct debit and licence dates are all there.
  3. If your account shows nothing is wrong, the email is a fake. Delete it.
  4. If your account does show a real payment problem, fix it from inside the account page, in that same tab. You will never be asked for card details by email.

Two more quick sanity checks, if you need them:

  • The refund test — a real refund never needs your card details to "send" you money. If the page asks for a full card number to receive money, it's a scam.
  • The threat test — a genuine organisation asks; it doesn't threaten you with a fine in a 24-hour deadline.

What to do

If you get a suspicious email:

  1. Don't click links or open attachments
  2. Forward it to Action Fraud at [email protected] (the NCSC's reporting address) — or report via actionfraud.police.uk
  3. Delete it
  4. Check your real TV licence status by logging in at tvlicensing.co.uk directly

If you clicked and entered details:

  1. Call your bank's fraud line immediately — cancel the card
  2. Report to Action Fraud — 0300 123 2040 — get a crime reference number
  3. Change your passwords if you used the same ones elsewhere
  4. Run a malware scan if you downloaded anything
  5. If money was taken, see how to get your money back after a scam

If you clicked but didn't enter anything

Clicking a link on its own doesn't usually hand over your details — it's the page you land on and the form you fill in that does the damage. Still, don't carry on assuming it's fine:

  1. Close the tab — don't log in anywhere from that page
  2. Don't download anything it offered — no "invoice", no "statement", no reader app
  3. Report the email to [email protected] so the site gets taken down
  4. Watch your bank statements for anything you don't recognise and query it with your bank straight away

If you gave your card details

This is the urgent one, and the order matters:

  1. Call your bank's fraud line now — ask them to cancel the card and flag the account. Speed is what stops the loss growing
  2. Report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 and keep the reference number
  3. Check whether a direct debit or recurring payment was set up by the fake site, and cancel it with your bank
  4. Then work through how to get your money back after a scam

If you paid by bank transfer

If the fake page took a bank transfer rather than card details, tell your bank immediately and ask for a recall — this is the fastest route. The full sequence is in Bank transfer scam victim — what to do, and how-to-report-a-scam-uk sets out who to tell and in what order.

Report it — always

You don't need to have lost money to report. A forwarded email takes seconds, and it's how the fake pages get blocked for the next household.

The rules that keep you safe

  • ❌ TV Licensing never emails payment links or refund links
  • ❌ They never threaten fines by email
  • ✅ Always go to tvlicensing.co.uk directly — type the address yourself
  • ✅ Check your account in your browser, never via a link in an email
  • ✅ Tell older relatives — this scam targets them hardest

Related guides

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