TV Licensing
Helping you avoid TV Licensing text and telephone scams
Already entered your personal details on a suspicious site? Report it to Action Fraud or call them on 0300 123 2040. If this included card or bank account details, talk to your bank immediately.
If you have received a text message and aren’t sure if it’s genuine, the following advice may help you. You can also sign in to view your licence or payment plan.
Firstly, what we'll never do:
Send you a text message to tell you you’re entitled to a refund
Ask you to set up a payment plan or provide your bank details by text message
Ask you to enter any personal details into our website until you’ve successfully signed into your licence.
Before you enter any information, you should check the website address is our genuine website tvlicensing.co.uk (or spp.tvlicensing.co.uk).
So, when do TV Licensing send text messages?
If you’re a TV Licensing payment card customer, we may send you a text to ask you to make a payment. If you’re a Simple Payment Plan customer, the link takes you to our secure payment provider (tvlspp.paythru.com)
If you’re a TV Licensing payment card customer and you make mobile payments via the TVL Pay app, you may receive text messages from ‘TVL Pay’ to confirm your payment.
If you’ve just signed up for Direct Debit, you may receive a text message letting you know when your first payment will be taken
If you’ve contacted us by phone or on our automated service – we may send you a confirmation message or a satisfaction survey
If you receive your licence through the post, you may receive a message asking you to go paperless
If the message asks you to call a number, please check it’s one of these numbers:
- 0300 555 0293 if you pay by payment card
- 0300 790 6082 if you pay by Direct Debit
- 0300 555 0355 if you are a Simple Payment Plan customer
If you’ve received a text which asks you to call any other number, do not call it.
Received a phone call and not sure it’s genuine?
Occasionally we may call you if there’s a problem with your TV Licence. This will usually be about a missed payment, a cancelled Direct Debit, or a reminder to renew.
We’ll call you from either 0300 790 6075, 0300 555 0285 or 0300 555 0355
If you’re not sure the call is genuine, don’t provide any personal information. You can also sign in to view your licence or payment plan.
If you’ve contacted us with a query, one of our team may call you back to discuss it. This may be from a withheld number, but the call will only be regarding the query you’ve raised.
Still suspicious about a possible scam?
- You can check your licence or payment plan by signing in on our website
- Worried about an email? Check our information on other types of scams.
STOP. CHECK. ASK. TV Licensing guide - (PDF – 363 Mb – opens in a new window)