Possible scam letter from police

luvchocolate

I'll try to explain as best as I can. 
A friend called me saying she had received a letter today from Greater Manchester police saying she had been involved in an accident and left without notification. 
Apparently at the beginning of the year in a supermarket car park 

She doesn't remember being there and bank statements show no purchases. 

She was asked to return form giving her e mail...date of birth and driving licence no. Or get a fine for £1,000

Told she couldn't phone to discuss but could check details online for £140.

I know what I think but has anyone else heard of this 

Clive_Woody

I don't think they use Euros (€) in Manchester.

Clive_Woody

....oh and definitely a scam. Charging to review details online 

luvchocolate

Clive_Woody said:

I don't think they use Euros (€) in Manchester.

Sorry my typo

CliveOfIndia

Yep, 100% a scam.  They wouldn't charge you to verify details as Clive_Woody says, and they wouldn't need an email address.  And they wouldn't say you can't phone up to query it.

If your friend is at all worried that it just might somehow be genuine, give her local police station a call and ask (don't call any number that might be on the letter, look up the real number for the local station).  I guarantee they'll put her mind at rest that she's not really in any sort of trouble with the law.

Car_54

CliveOfIndia said:

Yep, 100% a scam.  They wouldn't charge you to verify details as Clive_Woody says, and they wouldn't need an email address.  And they wouldn't say you can't phone up to query it.

If your friend is at all worried that it just might somehow be genuine, give her local police station a call and ask (don't call any number that might be on the letter, look up the real number for the local station).  I guarantee they'll put her mind at rest that she's not really in any sort of trouble with the law.

Good luck with finding a 'phone number for the station. They usually tell you to use 101.

luvchocolate

She contacted a local police station and something we'd not considered was possible reg cloning. 

Been given e mail address for the dept dealing with that 

Aretnap

luvchocolate said:

She contacted a local police station and something we'd not considered was possible reg cloning. 

Been given e mail address for the dept dealing with that 

While coming is not impossible, it's probably more likely that it was a car with a similar registration number and a witness has misread the plate or written it down incorrectly and come up with your friend's.

That's assuming it's a genuine letter from the police of course. Assuming it's genuine, it should mention Section 172 of the Road Traffic Act and ask her to provide details of who was driving the car at the time of the (alleged) incident. The request will ask for the details in writing by post, not over the phone or via a website etc. It should be reasonably straightforward to check whether the address provided is a genuine police address.

user1977

luvchocolate said:

She contacted a local police station and something we'd not considered was possible reg cloning. 

What, they didn't think the bit about "checking details online for £140" was obviously a load of nonsense? Checking what "details" where?

DullGreyGuy

Original post obviously edited and so difficult to follow the whole story.

At the end of the day if they are concerned about the validity of a police letter then take it to a police station with the requested documents as if its genuine they will register them and if its false they will deal with the fraud

Thomas_Crown

Check the postal address if there is one. The traffic police working for GMP, who investigate incidents such as the one mentioned, are based in Eccles.