EHIC Scam website www.ehic.org

mgdavid

Duncraig wrote: »

I was in a hurry ........../QUOTE]

I didn't bother to read any further.... I guessed what was coming...

I_luv_cats

DCFC79 wrote: »

Two others I can think of are the land registry 1 (cant remember what it promises to do) and I think theres the driving licence application site.

Tax as well: (mentioned on Moneybox) Filling in your self-assessment tax return and paying your tax may not be fun but at least the online process itself is free. So how can firms get away with charging people from £100 to £1000 for letting them do it? HMRC explains how it is policing copycat sites.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03m3j72

Pollycat

Copycat websites exist for:

• EHIC
• Driving licence renewal
• Driving test application
• ESTA
• Passport renewal

There may also be others that I'm not aware of.

OFT investigated some of these sites a while ago, this is their summary:

Summary of work

The OFT has decided, on administrative priority grounds, to close its investigation into websites which charge consumers for processing applications for a range of government services, such as European Health Insurance Cards (EHICs), which are available free or at a low cost if obtained directly from the government.
The investigation examined whether there had been an infringement of consumer protection legislation, in particular the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Among the matters investigated, the OFT looked at whether these websites were deceptively presenting themselves as official government websites.
The OFT found that in most instances the sites investigated carried statements explaining the nature of the service provided and disclaiming any official status or affiliation with the government.
The OFT also worked with central government to help official government websites appear more prominently when searched for online.
The OFT prioritises its work in accordance with its published prioritisation principles. Broadly speaking, it focuses its efforts and resources on deterring and influencing behaviour that poses the greatest threat to consumer welfare
Based on the results of its investigation and the improvement in online searches, the OFT has concluded that potential for significant consumer detriment is low and there is insufficient evidence of breaches of consumer protection legislation to warrant prioritising formal enforcement action in this instance. It may reconsider its decision in the future if it receives further evidence of suspected infringements, or its prioritisation assessment changes.
The OFT is, however, concerned that people visiting a website that charges for processing applications for a government service may not always be aware that they can save money by going direct to the government, so has issued a consumer alert to help raise awareness and warn people to be cautious when entering their card payment details online.

See the parts highlighted in red.

Basically, OFT believe most of these websites are operating within the law.

Also see the part highlighted in blue.

mollymaid

Tried the ehic phone 0300 three times it was useless so went on line the first site on Google was ehic-uk.org .I thought this was an official site no! I have paid £49 and given my details to WHO?. They have a phone line but only open 9-5 08431553939 , but if you phone after this time you are still told that you are in a queue and that your call is important, I bet it is if you hang on waiting for them to answer, another litlle money maker

Pollycat

I'm not sure what you can do about this, Molly.

Do you have a 'next step' in mind?

Why are you ringing them?
To ask for a refund?

Some of these websites did have a refund policy (minus an 'admin' fee) but I can't see anything about refunds on the website you used.