Congestion Charge Scam

Congestion Charge Scam

Anything that looks like an official fine tends to make people pay first and ask questions later. Scammers know this, which is why fake congestion charge messages keep doing the rounds. They have been around in one form or another for years, and the format keeps being refreshed to match whatever Transport for London is sending out at the time.

The basic trick is simple. You get a message claiming your vehicle was caught driving in the London Congestion Charge zone, the ULEZ, or one of the other charging zones, and that you owe a penalty. There is usually a link to "view photographic evidence" or "pay now to avoid the higher charge". Click it and you are taken to a convincing copy of an official site that asks for your card details, address, date of birth and sometimes your driving licence number.

How the scam reaches you

It used to be almost entirely email. That has changed. The same scam now arrives by:

• Email, often from a spoofed address that looks close to a real one.
• SMS text message, sometimes appearing in the same thread as genuine messages from official services because of how the sender ID is forged.
• WhatsApp and other messaging apps.
• Letters posted to your home, in some cases, made to look like a Penalty Charge Notice.

The wording varies. Some versions are polite and ask you to confirm whether you were the driver. Others are aggressive and warn that the charge will increase quickly if you do not pay within a short window. Both styles are designed to push you into clicking before you think.

Red flags to look for

• The message arrives out of the blue and you have not driven in London, or the registration mentioned is not yours.
• The link does not go to a gov.uk or tfl.gov.uk address. Hover over it on a computer, or press and hold on a phone, to see where it actually points.
• You are asked to pay through an unusual method, or to enter far more personal information than a payment would normally need.
• The message mixes up terms, for example calling itself a "fine" rather than a Penalty Charge Notice, or referring to the "City of London" when London-wide road charging is run by Transport for London.
• Spelling and grammar are slightly off, or the greeting is generic.
• There is heavy time pressure, with the amount said to rise sharply if you delay.
• The sender's email address looks plausible at first glance but does not match the official domain when you check carefully.

None of these on their own is proof of a scam, and a real Penalty Charge Notice will also mention escalating amounts if unpaid. That is why it is worth checking through the official channel rather than trusting the message in front of you.

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How to check whether a charge is real

Do not use the link or phone number in the message. Open a fresh browser window and go to GOV.UK or the official Transport for London site by typing the address yourself. From there you can look up your vehicle, check whether anything is outstanding, and find the genuine contact details. If a real penalty has been issued, it will show up there.

If a paper letter looks suspicious, the same approach works. Check online before you pay anything, and call the number listed on the official site rather than the one printed on the letter.

If you have already clicked or paid

Try not to panic. Acting quickly limits the damage.

• If you entered card details or made a payment, ring the number on the back of your bank card straight away and tell them you think you have been scammed. Ask them to stop the payment if it has not yet cleared, and to watch the account for further attempts. Have the date, time and amount of the transaction ready, along with any reference numbers, so the bank can investigate.
• If you used a debit card, ask your bank about chargeback, which is a scheme that lets your bank try to reverse a card payment. If you used a credit card and the amount was over £100 (and under £30,000), ask about Section 75 protection, which makes the card provider jointly liable with the seller.
• If you gave away your address, date of birth or driving licence details, be alert for follow-up scams. Criminals sometimes use that information to try identity fraud, or to come back later pretending to be your bank or the police.
• Change the password on any account where you reused the same one, and turn on two-step verification where you can.
• If you clicked a link and entered details on a phone or computer, install any pending software and operating system updates, then run a full scan using reputable security software (Windows Defender on Windows, or a well-known paid product on any platform). On a phone, removing any app you do not recognise is a sensible extra step.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

Reporting it

Reports help build the picture that allows fraudulent sites and numbers to be shut down, even if your own money is not recoverable. Before you delete anything, take screenshots of the message, save any email by using your mail app's option to view the full headers, and note the sender address or phone number. That evidence is useful to both your bank and the authorities.

• Report scam emails by forwarding them to the National Cyber Security Centre's reporting service at report@phishing.gov.uk, then delete them.
• Report scam texts by forwarding them to 7726, which is free on the main UK networks.
• Report the scam itself, and any loss, to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk, or by phone if you prefer. In Scotland, contact Police Scotland on 101.
• If you need help working out what to do next, Citizens Advice can talk you through your options.
• For policy and current guidance on road charging, refunds and official contacts, GOV.UK is the place to start.

A note on amounts and deadlines

Penalty amounts, discount periods and the boundaries of charging zones in London have changed several times over the years and will change again. Rather than memorising figures from a website, including this one, check GOV.UK or the official Transport for London pages at the time you need them. If a message quotes a figure that does not match what is on the official site, treat that as another reason to be suspicious.

The takeaway

Genuine penalties do exist, and ignoring a real one is expensive. No honest enforcement body, though, will mind you taking a few minutes to verify a message before paying. If you are unsure, close the message without clicking anything, type the official web address into your browser yourself, log in or use the vehicle lookup to see whether anything is actually owed, and only then act. Scams keep evolving, so this will not catch every version, but it will see off most of what is currently in circulation.

See also: Latest Scam Warnings for an up-to-date list of the scam types being reported across the UK right now.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Scam Detector lets you got a text, call, email or offer that feels off? Paste it in below and we will tell you how scammy it looks, the warning signs to spot, and exactly what to do next. Try it now →