TV Licensing

How do I know if a text from TV Licensing is genuine and not a scam?

If you have received a text message and aren’t sure if it’s genuine, the following advice may help you.

What we'll never do:

• We’ll never send you a text message to tell you you’re entitled to a refund.
• We’ll never ask you to set up a payment plan by text message.
• We’ll never ask you to enter any personal details into our website until you’ve successfully signed into your licence (at tvlicensing.co.uk or spp.tvlicensing.co.uk). To do this you’ll need your licence number, surname on the licence and the postcode of the address where the licence is held.

What else do I look out for?

Check the sender

Our texts will always be from ‘TV Licensing’ or ‘TVLicensing’. The only exception is if you pay by TV Licensing Payment Card and receive a message about a missed payment with the option of replying YES to take payment from your card stored with TV Licensing. This message will be sent from 07786 200 611.

What time was the text sent to you?

We only send texts between:

• 8am and 7pm Monday to Friday.
• 8am and 6pm on Saturday.

We do not send texts on Sundays.

Check the links go to the TV Licensing website

You will only be asked to go to tvlicensing.co.uk (or spp.tvlicensing.co.uk). If you are not sure, go to the TV Licensing website directly by typing tvlicensing.co.uk into your web browser.

Did you share a mobile number with us?

When you manage your TV Licence online, or call the TV Licensing contact centre, you may have given us a mobile number. If you did, we may send you SMS messages. For example, to let you know if a payment has failed; to ask for your email address so we can send you essential information via email; or to ask you to take part in a customer satisfaction survey.

If you didn’t give us a mobile number then the text you’ve received is not genuine.

Our privacy policy tells you more about how we contact you and you can change your contact preferences at any time.

Check the number we ask you to call

If the SMS contains a number to call, we only use 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

Does it ask for personal information?

Our texts will never ask you for any personal information such as credit or debit card numbers or your security code. We will never ask you to set up a payment plan by text message.

Payment via SMS is only ever against your registered credit/debit card and will therefore only require the word ‘YES’ to action the payment.

Are there any changes in style, spelling and grammar?

Are there any spelling mistakes, missing full stops or other grammatical errors?

Often scammers will take the real texts and amend them. Look out for changes in the wording used, especially if it seems too casual or familiar.

Need any further help or advice?

If you have any doubts if a text or call has come from us you can visit the TV Licensing website directly by typing tvlicensing.co.uk into your web browser or you can use our other contact details.

We suggest the following websites which provide some useful information:

Find out more about email scams.