Fake EHIC / E111 website: scam £35 fee

paula.paula13

Hi all,

I've seen another thread about this for a different website. Tonight I landed on ehic.co.uk which offers renewals etc. I thought it was the real ehic website, entered info to renew mine & my husbands cards.

The only reason I realised it was a fake site is that I had to do it again to complete my son's and then I spotted the disclaimer at the bottom re it not being the real website!

The scam site charges £35 to renew. We've phoned the bank and cancelled the card.

gettingtheresometime

I think you're going to be out of luck doing that one.

shaun_from_Africa

paula.paula13 wrote: »

The scam site charges £35 to renew. We've phoned the bank and cancelled the card.

Simply cancelling a card doesn't normally have any effect on payments that have already been authorised by the card holder.
If it did, it would be easy to buy something then decide that you didn't want to pay for it and phone up your card issuer and get the card cancelled.

You need to speak to your card issuer and tell them what has happened and if they agree that the website was misleading then they should agree to cancel the payment.
However, as you read the website disclaimer, they might not agree with you and insist that you are liable for the charge.

cubegame

It's not a scam. You're paying for a service they offer.

It may be a particularly useless service but that's of no relevance to the validity of the transaction.

pogofish

Did you not see guide for this?

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/copycat-websites/?_ga=2.29916159.1391438564.1570144109-1772953638.1566643565

And there is a more practical “Steps to take” thread in a more appropriate forum as well.

leylandsunaddict

There's been sites that charge for this for years. They're not a scam. They charge you for the service they provide. They're usually very easy to tell as well. The mere hint that there's a fee shows they're obviously not the NHS site.

If you google EHIC the first site it returns is the NHS site. You'd have to scroll down a way to find a non NHS site.

TELLIT01

The Government has said that they are trying to stop these sites operating, but their charges are not illegal. What may be illegal is making the sites look so much like the official sites where you can get the same service free or for far less than these sites charge.

HoofeHearted

paula.paula13 wrote: »

The only reason I realised it was a fake site is that I had to do it again to complete my son's and then I spotted the disclaimer at the bottom re it not being the real website!

That disclaimer is also near the top of their web page.
Just take it on the chin and be more vigilant next time.

George_Michael

HoofeHearted wrote: »

That disclaimer is also near the top of their web page.
Just take it on the chin and be more vigilant next time.

There is also a disclaimer on both pages that you have to go through when filling in your personal details:


so even without attempting to read their T&C's, that's at least 4 different times that it's made clear that they are offering a paid for service and that you can get the card without paying if you go direct to the NHS.

TELLIT01

George_Michael wrote: »

There is also a disclaimer on both pages that you have to go through when filling in your personal details:


so even without attempting to read their T&C's, that's at least 4 different times that it's made clear that they are offering a paid for service and that you can get the card without paying if you go direct to the NHS.

It would be difficult to be much clearer than that.

heatherw_01

Not sure why you cancelled the card? The payment was taken as you authorised it, it wasn't an unauthorised charge.

It states on the site it isn't the official site and you are paying them for them to complete the application for you.