Land & Property Services Warning On Bogus Emails
Be on the guard for scam emails asking for bank account details
Land & Property Services (LPS), which is responsible for collecting rates, is urging ratepayers to be on their guard against bogus emails. The warning follows several incidents in recent days where ratepayers received a letter by email seeking to obtain bank details.
Bogus emails
The letter had a UK mainland address and a 0800 telephone number (which is a dead line) from the address, epayments@landregistry.gsi.uk, asking them to pay a specified rate amount by direct debit the next day. The emails referred to a ‘mandate number’ and a ‘notification number’ neither of which correlate to any LPS reference.
Advice if you receive a bogus email
The advice to ratepayers is: DO NOT open this email; or if you have already opened the e-mail and/or the attachment, LPS recommend that you:
- run anti-virus software (if you are on your personal computer)
- notify your IT administrator (if you are within a business)
LPS is urging ratepayers to be wary, a spokesman said: “At times, LPS may contact ratepayers to discuss outstanding rates or to seek further information about a rate account.
“When LPS staff contact you by phone, email or in person, they will always ask you to confirm security information in relation to your rate account.”
