A council has warned its residents to be vigilant after reports of fake council tax messages being sent out.
The Richmond upon Thames Borough Council posted a warning on its website urging residents to be “on the lookout” for the scam council tax messages.
The authority shared a screenshot of a fake text message which falsely claimed to be from “CityCouncil”, which read: “You are due to receive a refund from your Council, visit our secure website https://councilrefund.tax/gov to begin the process.”
Scam messages like this often have links to fake websites under the scammers control, where victims are encouraged to input personal or banking details.
The London council explained the legitimate process for how it would contact people about council tax, saying: “We may contact you by phone, email or text message to tell you that a payment is due or overdue, but our messages will never ask for your bank details.”
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The authority also warned about other signs to look out for that indicate a message is fake. It said: “A message is a scam if it asks for your card or bank details. It is also a scam if it says you are entitled to a refund or band reduction, or if it offers to write-off council tax arrears for a fee.
“If you receive a text message from us, you will be required to enter your postcode as part of the authentication process; this is for security and GDPR reasons.
“If you have any doubt about a message you have received, contact us directly – do not give out your personal details.”
A person can find out who their local council is using a tool on the Government website. This works by a person inputting their postcode and that it will direct them to their local council website.
Council tax rates increased in many parts of England by five percent from April, along with many other household bills, including energy and water bills.
People may want to check they are in the correct council tax band as they could be overpaying their council tax.
A woman recently wrote in to Money Saving Expert to share her story of how she was put into a lower band and received an £8,500 refund.
To find out if they should be in a lower council tax band, a person should compare their property with other similar properties in their area, to see if the other properties are in a lower band.
They should then calculate the value of their property when the band system was put in place, to make sure they should be in a lower band.
Only after completing these two steps should a person approach the relevant valuation authority to ask their band to be reevaluated.
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