be careful:passport renewal

all

just a word of caution and so you don't lose £69:

firstly it seems that this is entirely my own fault so I am not looking for any commets saying why didn't you read the whole site first ect , this is just a heads up so no one on here falls in the same trap:

I googled for passport renewal as I was advised it was quicker ect and I paid my £69 and sure enough the form arrived all filled in and just needed a signature and 2 photos , I sent it off and thought all was well until this morning I received a letter from the passport office saying I needed to pay as I had not sent any form of payment.
I rang them up and as soon as I said I had paid via the website the lady said oh no it seems you are another one and that this happens a lot , she told me to check the website as it is not part of the official passport office and basically this is just an expensive check and send service.

I am still annoyed I fell for this but was in such a rush to get this passport done I just clicked and paid and like I said I just want all the members on here to be careful.

the website I used was https://passportdirect.org.uk/ but apparently there a loads doing the same thing and seems like it is completely legal , I have tried contacting them but it just fails on the website and my bank said they cannot do anything as they have done what they said the would.


be careful guys.........

Sorry to hear. Thanks for informing.

Sorry to hear that M8. It applies to a number of other sites too, like Tax returns. Always look for the official sites.

Sorry to hear that M8 nice one for the informing.

Sorry to hear of this, there seems no limit to the depths the scammers will plumb to part us from our cash.

Slightly OT, but I always thought .ORG sites were meant for charities. Would be nice to get them back somehow :Angryfire

trevortron said:

Sorry to hear of this, there seems no limit to the depths the scammers will plumb to part us from our cash.

Slightly OT, but I always thought .ORG sites were meant for charities. Would be nice to get them back somehow :Angryfire

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Regrettably there's little you can do. It's not a scam for a start and is perfectly legal. The website advertises a legitimate service and makes clear the fees payable.

The domain is .org.uk so it's UK commercial.

Immoral? Probably. Confusing? Indeed. Annoying? Absolutely.

However, it's buyer beware on this one, sorry.

Hearing more and more about these recently for more than passports too.

There are also sites high up on google when you search E111 health card renewal that offer to get you a new card for a fee even though its free if you apply direct to the correct place

When I say high up I mean 1st listed lol
Charges £14.99 for a free EHIC card. Robbing bastards

IANB said:

There are also sites high up on google when you search E111 health card renewal that offer to get you a new card for a fee even though its free if you apply direct to the correct place

When I say high up I mean 1st listed lol
Charges £14.99 for a free EHIC card. Robbing bastards

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They're high up because they pay Google to be there. There's more comprehensive information here:

Copycat websites: 'I paid £49 extra to renew my daughter's passport' | This is Money

Hopefully they'll soon be stamped on

As already stated there are loads of these "fake style" websites out there preying on those that do not thoroughly check out every detail, which lets be fair on many of the particular sites targeted by these unscrupulous traders, you should not have to double check everything.
Sorry to hear you were duped and Thanks for high-lighting the problem to others.

Him Her said:

They're high up because they pay Google to be there. There's more comprehensive information here:

Copycat websites: 'I paid £49 extra to renew my daughter's passport' | This is Money

Hopefully they'll soon be stamped on

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they have now been stopped for a little while as HMPO have started accepting online payment which they have never offered in a bid to try and stop this.....a bit late for me but at least no one else for now will fall for it.

my ultimate aim here here is to stop our members falling for the same type of thing and as mentioned there are loads of sites offering these services.....

Hi @melttc,

You just saved my household £69.99

I need a new passport for July, and was going to do it in the next week or so, had I not read this I would of probably done the same as you mate.

Thanks for making us all aware pal, as @Him Her said earlier there are a lot of TAX ones too... I get allot of them in my spam folder!

Regards
Mick

melttc said:

my ultimate aim here here is to stop our members falling for the same type of thing and as mentioned there are loads of sites offering these services.....

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These are the new style "entrepreneurs". Seems we "need" more of them, to create jobs for people we didn't need in the first place!

Sorry if this offends, but that's the way I see it.

We need to treat them to a course of Anglo Saxon and a pointy-stick-based haemorrhoid remedy

Him Her said:

We need to treat them to a course of Anglo Saxon and a pointy-stick-based haemorrhoid remedy

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Ever thought about expanding foam?

Another one to watch out for,just tried to SORN my car and this website popped up:
http://http://www.directgov.uk.net/index.php
Charging you to SORN a car,lol

Oily said:

Another one to watch out for,just tried to SORN my car and this website popped up:
http://http://www.directgov.uk.net/index.php
Charging you to SORN a car,lol

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just took a look at this site and if you were not vigilant you could mistake it for the official site , them when you really read in to it.....................

it is a minefield......thanks for sharing

Oily said:

Another one to watch out for,just tried to SORN my car and this website popped up:
http://http://www.directgov.uk.net/index.php
Charging you to SORN a car,lol

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The devious swine! Sneaking the .net reference into the address I see. I put my elderly aunt's car on SORN recently as this is just the type of scam that would catch someone like her out.

Personally I think you've got to be pretty thick to fall for any of these scams.

Bit harsh but some people need to use the brains they were born with.