15/12/2016
This week I received an email from some purporting to be Greater Manchester Police informing me that in obedience Road Offenders Traffic Act 1988 it would be necessary to take proceeding against the driver of a motor vehicle who was purported to have been caught travelling at 65mph in a 25mph speed limit on the B5166 Daine Avenue. Greater Manchester Police are now informing me that I have to complete the section 172 notice within 28 days and giving me a link to do so.
On first look this appeared to be a fairly convincing email. It is formatted how an official email would, it uses a Greater Manchester Police email address with official document codes. But whilst first appearances are seemingly convincing, it has a number of issues that ring alarm bells. I'll address them each in turn.
1. The email address - Seemingly Greater Manchester Police sent the email, but drilling deeper we can see that it was actually sent from a completely different email address which was masked by the email client.
2. The interesting choice of language - 'In obedience', 'take proceedings', 'were sent'. All public bodies will use plain english in their communication. If it looks poorly written, then its unlikely to be official.
3. The Statute - The Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. They actually got this correct. Well done.
4. 25mph Speed Limit - 25mph speed limit in the UK is a new one on me.
5. Offering to view evidence - Police forces will not issue evidence with the Notice of Intended prosecution. Such evidence will usually have to be requested by the offender at a later date.
Email - NIP's are never sent via email. They will be sent by the police force to the address held by the DVLA.
All these factors should immediately raise concerns over the legitimacy of similar emails. Criminals are becoming increasingly creative in their attempts, but as with previous scams, fail on the finer points of detail. If you receive this email immediately delete it (it contains a Banking Trojan virus) and report it to Action Fraud at the link below:
http://www.actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud
