Is this a legit bailiff?

beatledave

HELP!

I've had a text this morning from +447453019980 saying:
"To prevent bailiffs calling tomorrow visit www . bailiffs - gov . co .uk and enter PRN********* AND PIN ****" (I've obviously hidden the numbers). I visited the website and it informed me that I owed £80 for an unpaid parking fine, broken down into £60 for the fine and £20 for fees. I no longer own the vehicle in question but I did when the alleged offence took place which was 22nd March 2012!!


The whole thing smells iffy if you ask me for the following reasons:

• I don't remember receiving a note attached to my windscreen/posted to my address
• If I had received a Penalty Charge Notice from my council I would have either paid or contested it
• Why text me rather than write instead/as well?
• There is no reference to these alleged bailiffs on the government website
• All government websites are .gov.uk NOT .gov.co.uk
• My local councils procedure following non-payment of Penalty Charge Notices are totally different to how these 'bailiffs' work. Collection is sought for after 28 days via a charge certificate after which I have 14 days before bailiffs come out. So 42 days......not over 365!
• I then received an identical text from a different number (+447445674938) 14 minutes later which suggests spam

If I am correct and it is a scam I'm concerned that when I go onto the website it has my name and address!

Has anyone else had similar texts?

Thanks in advance!

Stroma

Sounds like a scam to me, but you need to contact your council ASAP about this. And I would make a complaint to the oft about this company, surely this must breach the rules in some way, pretending to be attached to the government is a serious abuse ?

https://www.bailiffs-gov.co.uk

Stroma

By the way this domain was registered day before yesterday 19/04/2013, so a scam me thinks

madintyone

Hi
Had the same text this morning and the car in question was off the road (and still is) at the time of the "offence" had me worried for a bit too.
Tried calling and conveniantly they are only open mon-fri 9-5, having now seen your post i will be ignoring and contacting the relevent agencies with there details.

Hornet22

I had the same Text this morning and I don't even have a car.
When i tried to get into their web site, i was told that it was now under construction.
Big Scam

Stroma

Can I just say that if they do turn up and are real bailiffs, you need to ensure that your current vehicle/s are not outside your property, and not to leave these people into your property no matter what they say, and not to leave the doors on the latch or windows open.

But the figures seem wrong to me, £60 is not a penalty charge that I've seen before, and £20 for charges are low, normally bailiffs charge hundreds. If this is a charge TEC will be involved as well

http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/northampton-bulk-centre/traffic-enforcement-centre

beatledave

:TThanks Stroma, some really useful advice. Thank you too :)Hornett22 and madintyone, I'm glad I'm not the only one to get this......not in a sadistic way of course!!! It is further evidence that it is a scam. I shall be making all of the appropriate contacts tomorrow. Angry does not even begin to touch how this makes me feel. What a horrible way to start a day off from work. And how unfair it is that I'll will have to waste my own time ensuring that I sort this.

The really annoying thing is I am exceptionally careful with what I sign up to these days and NEVER give permission for 3rd parties to contact me.

I'll let you all know any developments, especially as two of you are in a similar predicament.

Thanks

maninthestreet

Their website gives the following address:

UK Bailiff Services
Centre Tower
Whitgift Centre
Croydon
Surrey
CR0 1LP

beatledave

Yeah, I can find little else about them. I may search the address on Google Street View later out of curiosity

Cheers

Hornet22

You have to admire the name - gov.co.uk

They should be hanged for appearing to use something that is supposed to be safe and official

FDUK10

I had this txt this morning. It scared me a little as it used my full name, but if they managed to get my number then i guess its not hard to find my name too.

The website name is what first made me suspect it was a scam. I havent typed in the numbers it said to on the site incase it sent a virus or something.

Thanks everyone for the info