Police have issued a warning after scammers sent out fake TV Licensing documents to Redbridge residents.

The Aldborough Safer Neighbourhood Team said “convincing” correspondence was emailed to people in the borough and residents should check that their letters are legitimate.

Action Fraud said it received 200 crime reports regarding TV Licensing in December 2018 alone, with victims reporting a total loss of more than £230,000 in the UK.

The national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime said the scammers use headlines such as “correct your licensing information”, “billing information updates” and “renew now” to trick people into clicking on the link within the email.

Within a week or two, the victim will receive a phone call from the fraudster claiming to be from the fraud department of the victim’s bank.

The conmen are convincing victims they are genuine banking staff by using the personal details that the victim provided through the fake website.

They then claim that the victim’s account has been compromised, possibly by a phishing scam they may have fallen victim to recently, and that they need to transfer their money to a new “safe account”.

Director of Action Fraud, Pauline Smith, said: “Bank staff and police officers will never ask you to move money to a safe account.

“It is also important that you never click on links in emails you were not expecting.

“If you believe you have been a victim of fraud, please report it us.”

A TV Licensing spokesman said it is continuing to work closely with Action Fraud to raise awareness about the ploy.

“TV Licensing will never email customers, unprompted, to ask for bank details, personal information or tell you that you may be entitled to a refund,” he said.

“Anyone who has provided their details as a result of a fraudulent email should report it to Action Fraud.

“If they have provided bank details, they should call their bank urgently.

“TV Licensing offers helpful information on scam emails at the following link - tvlicensing.co.uk/scam.”

Action Fraud advises residents to never answer unsolicited emails from TV Licensing and to not assume that a phone call or email is authentic, just because someone knows your basic details.