Motorists are being warned of motor tax email scam targeting bank details
Motor tax email scam targeting customer bank details
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport have become aware of fraudulent emails purporting to come from the Department seeking vehicle details and billing information from vehicle owners in connection with their last motor tax transaction.
Motorists paying their motor tax online have been warned to be on their guard for fraudsters trying to get their bank details.
It has come to light that People renewing their motor tax online are getting emails immediately afterwards claiming that there was a problem.
The email looks very authentic and they are being asked to confirm the details about their car and also to provide again their billing details.
One person who was targeted in this way by the fraudsters said, “It looks like the Motor Tax office got hacked. I renewed my motor insurance this morning and got a request for my billing details and car owner information. It is a pretty good scam.”
The email claims the payment for motor tax did not go through and asking the recipient to confirm the vehicle registration number and owner information.
There is a link to what looks like the official motortax.ie website and at first glance, it can be very convincing.
The opening page of the motortax.ie website has the following warning about the email scam.
WARNING: EMAIL SCAM
This Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport have become aware of fraudulent emails purporting to come from the Department seeking vehicle details and billing information from vehicle owners in connection with their last motor tax transaction.
These emails did not issue from the Department.
The Department never send emails requiring customers to send personal information via email or pop-up windows.
Anyone who receives an email purporting to be from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and suspects it to be fraudulent or a scam, should simply delete it.
Anyone who provided personal information in response to these fraudulent emails should contact their bank or credit card company immediately.
Please see our Privacy and Security page for details on how we secure the transfer of all data between your browser and our site.
The website goes on to state: “This Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport have become aware of fraudulent emails purporting to come from the department seeking vehicle details and billing information from vehicle owners in connection with their last motor tax transaction.”
“Anyone who provided personal information in response to these fraudulent emails should contact their bank or credit card company immediately,”
The Motor Tax Online website is a secure service provided by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and Ireland’s local authorities and in response to the latest email scam, a spokesman for the Department denied the site had been hacked, suggesting the scammers were sending random emails.
The spokesman added: “If an email does get someone due or just paid, it’s getting lucky. It is not directed/targeted at people who are paying motor tax. We haven’t been hacked.”
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Justin Kavanagh
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