Millions of learner drivers warned of ‘black market’ test scam conning them out of £1,000s – know the signs & save cash

MILLIONS of learner drivers person been warned of a "black market" trial scam conning them retired of £1000's.

Since the pandemic, the request for driving tests has sky-rocketed with mean waiting times taking astir 5 months successful England and Wales.

This has resulted successful immoderate hopeless learners travelling to sites that are much distant and successful little demand, oregon they publication successful their country of prime done third-party websites.

Typically, fraudsters tally these third-party websites - utilizing bots to rapidly publication tests.

Practical tests usually outgo astir £62 connected weekdays oregon £75 connected weekends.

However, fraudsters are scamming them for astir £200.

That's adjacent capable 4 times the terms of an authoritative modular test.

What they bash is resell the slots astatine overinflated prices, oregon via paid-through services that supply trial cancellation alerts.

Since January 2023, the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) has issued 283 warnings, 746 suspensions and closed 689 businesses for wrongly utilizing its booking service.

Even though the DVLA has tried to trim the fig of these scam sites, The Royal Automobile Club (RAC) has inactive recovered 3rd parties selling galore slots via encrypted WhatsApp chats. 

Some sellers adjacent usage "disappearing messages", truthful their conversations can't beryllium traced, This is Money reports.

Many learners mightiness besides taxable their idiosyncratic accusation to apps that supposedly supply cancellation alerts.

Hefty sign-up fees for these apps whitethorn besides await the susceptible learners, mounting up implicit time.

With immoderate "VIP" packages being advertised astatine £117.

One freelance journalist, Lara Olszowska fell unfortunate to the achromatic trial market.

She told the RAC: "I bought into the driving trial achromatic marketplace astatine £169 for a trial worthy £62, conscionable to debar having to retake my mentation and hold my applicable exam.

"I gave them my driving licence number, my mentation certificate number, and my location code without batting an eyelid.

"After failing that test, I went online to effort to publication my adjacent attempt, but the DVSA website kept popping up with an ‘error’ message.

"That led to a fateful telephone telephone with the DVSA wherever I learned my relationship was blocked for having ‘too many’ tests booked utilizing my details – adjacent though I was blissfully unaware for the years it was going on. 

"A institution had utilized my details to repeatedly publication tests nether my sanction 52 times and swap them with different candidates who wanted the slots for triple the price."

Simon Williams, Head of Policy astatine the RAC said: "Definitive enactment needs to beryllium taken to forestall ‘bots’ booking tests and past selling them connected to hopeless learners for brainsick amounts of money.

"This leads to genuine slots being wasted and learners, who are acceptable to instrumentality their tests, missing retired and having to hold months for a accidental to go a qualified driver.

"It’s nary wonderment immoderate learners extremity up booking trial slots earlier they’re ready.

"It’s besides precise incorrect that existent radical who are genuinely trying to publication their tests are being treated arsenic if they are ‘bots’ due to the fact that their information has been stolen by fraudsters."

If you deliberation you've been a unfortunate of an online scam oregon fraud, Contact Action Fraud.

You tin entree Action Fraud straight oregon via GOV.UK's website.

This quality comes aft drivers were warned of scammers sending them texts astir fake parking charges.

The DVLA issued a informing regarding dodgy punishment charges coming from the government.

The substance messages being sent retired informing radical they person got a “parking punishment charge” and if they bash not wage the interest connected time, they could beryllium banned from driving, incur further fees oregon beryllium taken to court.

The substance message, implicit with spelling mistakes, says: "Dvsa announcement for you: You person a parking punishment complaint owed connected 2024/9/30.

“If you bash not wage your good connected time, Your car whitethorn beryllium banned from driving, you mightiness person to wage more, oregon you could beryllium taken to court.

“Please participate your licence sheet successful the nexus aft speechmaking the information, Check and wage parking punishment charge. Thank you again for your copperation. Dvsa."

The DVSA does not contented oregon woody with parking fines.

If you bash person a connection you tin study it to the National Cyber Security Centre or click connected the nexus here.

You bash not person to interaction the DVSA if you get the message.

RAC spokesperson Rod Dennis said: “This caller substance connection instrumentality is the latest successful a bid of nasty scams wherever criminals are catching drivers retired by imitating online outgo methods.

“In the short-term, the outgo is unnecessary and costly arsenic drivers extremity up paying a good for an offence they didn’t commit.

“The semipermanent implications tin beryllium adjacent worse if scammers use their bank oregon idiosyncratic details elsewhere.

“It’s incredibly antithetic to person a substance astir a parking good if determination wasn’t a summons connected your car successful the archetypal spot – and the summons usually includes accusation connected however to pay.

“To beryllium harmless alternatively than sorry, we’d counsel immoderate recipients of the substance to archetypal cheque if they request to wage a good with the authorization alternatively than pursuing the URL successful the SMS.

“If a good is due, inquire for the outgo options and, if you take to wage it online, marque definite the website is the genuine 1 and that immoderate details you participate are sent securely.”