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Rod Licence scam ?

Cliff Turner

Cliff Turner

Senior Member & Supporter
Is anyone on here aware of this site - https://www.fishingandrodlicences.co.uk ? My son who doesn't fish came on a Wye trip with me a few weeks ago and I told him to get a rod licence on line. He found this site which is the first to come up on a google search, and paid £20 for a 8 day licence, he got an email receipt saying his request was being processed and then nothing since, of course £20 has been taken from his account. I looked at the site and in small print they have a disclaimer saying they are nothing to do with the EA, but that said its still not obvious who they are and hence I believe its a scam ? If it is I want and try and get them closed down as its really peed me off ! Anyone come across this or had similar experience ? Im thinking of advising the EA and Angling Trust though not sure either will be interested ?

Any advice ?

thanks Cliff
 
It, and others like it, have been going for quite a few years. Sadly, there's nothing illegal about them. People do get licences through them, they just pay more than they need to. I'm pretty sure that the EA and Angling Trust will be well aware of them. I doubt that there's anyone that it's worth your while reporting them to.
 
Well my son never got his licence so he was def ripped off, if they had sent it and charged a bit more then I could live with that.
 
You could always try your local council's Trading Standards team. They might pursue it or contact the TS team where the scammer is based.


Dave
 
How are these sites allowed to operate?!

15. REFUND & COMPLAINTS

Users of our services are protected by UK& International law. The service we offer is a digital personalised service, by proceeding to submit an application you agree to waive your cancellation rights.

Shocking
 
David Clewer said:
You could always try your local council's Trading Standards team. They might pursue it or contact the TS team where the scammer is based.


Dave
Click to expand...
Rhys Perry said:
How are these sites allowed to operate?!

15. REFUND & COMPLAINTS

Users of our services are protected by UK& International law. The service we offer is a digital personalised service, by proceeding to submit an application you agree to waive your cancellation rights.

Shocking
Click to expand...
 
There's a similar scam for paying the London congestion charge, top of the Google list and they charge 5 or 10 quid on top. Must catch out a lot of tourists.
TFL could stop them but they're as much use as a chocolate teapot.
Likewise the EA.
 
Cliff Turner said:
Well my son never got his licence so he was def ripped off, if they had sent it and charged a bit more then I could live with that.
Click to expand...

If that's the case, report it to the police as fraud. However, it could be the case that no physical licence is sent by the EA out for an eight day licence. A reference number might be all you'd ever get. These buggers are effectively operating as "agents" (where none is really needed) and extract a fee for the privilege. Whilst there's nothing illegal (provided you actually get a licence), they are parasites.
 
I buy on line on the .GOV website, easy peasy.. print off confirmation and off you go, Post Office i soooo last season :D
 
That scam site is being hosted on a server in Arizona USA in a Godaddy datacenter. Probably why the EA haven't had it taken down already as its not in the UK.

Untitled.jpg
 
It's the search engine that is culpable, Google get paid a lot to ensure this crooked website gets to the top of the search page.
 
To add: Anyone who has been affected by this scam site should contact Godaddy's abuse email in the image above. Explain what has happened and give them the web address and the IP address shown in the image and they will have all they need to investigate and take action. This type of activity is almost certainly against Godaddy's terms and conditions and they should take this pretty seriously as they are ultimately liable for any dodgy activities happening on their servers. If they got enough complaints they would take the site offline.
 
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