Driving licence scam

Pianoman1

My wife has paid for services to a website "uklicence.com" and have identified this as a scam. They took a payment of £39.95 via my credit card. She also gave them sensitive information such as passport number and driving licence information.
I would like to know:
1. What are my rights with the credit card company? They won't dispute until payment has cleared. Can I expect them to pursue the money? We did willingly give the details to this website, but there is no way to pursue the refund as the website just goes to an error page when we try and do this.This appears to be a legally registered company, but giving a completely fake service.
2. How should we deal with the sensitive information? I feel so bad that this information is out there and can be used for all sorts of purposes.
Any help appreciated.

Were_Doomed

This website and business is no longer operating or trading.

For refunds within the 30 day refund policy, please click here.

That's what I see if I follow your link. Pass that on to your CC company and see if they'll reconsider the chargeback request as it is patently obvious that no services (whether scam or not) will be provided.

What was she doing to a) find that site and b) believe it was an official site to do whatever task she needed doing?

If she's willingly passed on sensitive information then there's very little you (she) can do but hope. Perhaps notify the passport office and DVLA that her details may have been obtained by scammers so that any requests for changes (e.g. change of address) are double-checked prior to implementation? (No idea if those departments will do anything like that, but at least you'd have something on record if anything did happen in future).

Pianoman1

Thanks for the link, i've submitted the refund request. Judging from the quality of the form and the reviews from other people, i'm not hopeful about it working, but will see.
She's not the most internet savvy, but also going through some extreme personal circumstances and making mistakes left,right and centre. I googled it and it comes up as the top link under google ads, she must have just clicked thinking it's the first one. 
For the chargeback, do they have do this before it has cleared, or can they do this after the transaction has cleared the account?
Good idea about contacting the passport office, i will give that a try. 
There is an email i can contact and will send through a standard GDPR data erase request. 
Any other suggestions welcome too, i've never had to deal with this before.

davidmcn

Is it a "completely fake service"? The difficulty with these sites generally is that they do actually provide the service you're paying for.

Pianoman1

davidmcn said:

Is it a "completely fake service"? The difficulty with these sites generally is that they do actually provide the service you're paying for.

According to trust pilot, yes it is a fake service. Haven't seen one person say that the service was actually completed

Were_Doomed

WHOIS info shows that the website was only registered in June 2020, and owner details are obfuscated.

https://whois.domaintools.com/uklicence.com

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Seems that the site was set up in June 2020 and I suspect it was a Phishing Site. I suggest you take any internet connected device off your ex wife, as well as check your credit record.

Also, get your ISP to use some form of Web Protect, to prevent your ex wife from going to dodgy sites and your Anti Virus software updated to also prevent access to Phishing sites. Most ISPs provide this free!

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Further, it appears on the Internet archive that the site was valid up to around 2018, then dormant. As scammers do sit on previously hosted sites. Then I am afraid, this was just one that was in the open until recently!

Were_Doomed

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

Seems that the site was set up in June 2020 and I suspect it was a Phishing Site. I suggest you take any internet connected device off your ex wife, as well as check your credit record.

Also, get your ISP to use some form of Web Protect, to prevent your ex wife from going to dodgy sites and your Anti Virus software updated to also prevent access to Phishing sites. Most ISPs provide this free!

🤣😂🤣
Are you now giving marital advice BoP?  

Pianoman1

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

Seems that the site was set up in June 2020 and I suspect it was a Phishing Site. I suggest you take any internet connected device off your ex wife, as well as check your credit record.

Also, get your ISP to use some form of Web Protect, to prevent your ex wife from going to dodgy sites and your Anti Virus software updated to also prevent access to Phishing sites. Most ISPs provide this free!

Good advice, thank you

Pianoman1

Were_Doomed said:

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth said:

Seems that the site was set up in June 2020 and I suspect it was a Phishing Site. I suggest you take any internet connected device off your ex wife, as well as check your credit record.

Also, get your ISP to use some form of Web Protect, to prevent your ex wife from going to dodgy sites and your Anti Virus software updated to also prevent access to Phishing sites. Most ISPs provide this free!

🤣😂🤣
Are you now giving marital advice BoP?  

I just noticed that