There ’ s a new scam on the block and over 200 people have already been hit . Here ’ s what you need to know about the TV Licence con . Action Fraud is warning that criminals are sending out Attack.Phishing emails pretending to be Attack.Phishing from TV Licensing . The watchdog says it has already received over 200 reports about the phishing scam Attack.Phishing . The email lures Attack.Phishing you in by saying you are owed a refund on your TV Licence payments . But , it ’ s a con and all the senders are really after is your bank details . What does the email say ? So far all the emails have been the same . They say : “ This is an official notification from TV Licensing ! “ We would like to notify you that , after the last annual calculation we have determined that you are eligible to receive a TV Licensing refund of 85.07 GBP . “ Due to invalid account details records , we were unable to credit your account . Please fill in the TV Licensing refund request and allow us 5-6 working days to the amount to be credited to your account. ” All this is untrue . If you receive this email the best thing to do is report it to Action Fraud and then delete it . Do not click on any links within the email . “ A small number of our customers have received Attack.Phishing scam email messages saying they are due a refund , ” a spokesperson for TV Licensing has said . “ A link directs Attack.Phishing customers to a fake version of the official TV Licensing website which asks them to enter personal information and bank details . “ If you receive a similar email message please delete it . If you have already clicked the link , do not enter or submit any information . TV Licensing never sends refund information by email and is investigating the source of the fraud. ” While these emails are a scam they carry an element of truth – you might be due a refund from TV Licensing . There are a number of ways you can avoid paying the full licence fee . If you are a student you are entitled to a £37 discount on the £147.50 colour TV licence . You can also apply for a refund if you ’ ve paid for a TV Licence beyond your 75th birthday . Anyone over the age of 75 is entitled to watch TV for free . TV Licences apply to households not individuals so if anyone if your household is a student , or over 75 then you all get the benefit of their discount . Similarly , if someone in your house is severely visually impaired they are entitled to a half-price TV licence . You can apply for a refund via the official TV Licensing Website .

Criminals are attempting to trick Attack.Phishing consumers into handing over passwords and credit card details by taking advantage of the flood of emails being sent out Attack.Phishing ahead of new European privacy legislation . The European Union 's new General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ) come into force on 25 May and the policy is designed to give consumers more control over their online data . As a result , in the run-up to it , organisations are sending out Attack.Phishing messages to customers to gain their consent for remaining on their mailing lists . With so many of these messages being sent out Attack.Phishing , it was perhaps only a matter of time before opportunistic cybercriminals looked to take advantage of the deluge of messages about GDPR and privacy policies arriving in people 's inboxes . A GDPR-related phishing scam Attack.Phishing uncovered by researchers at cyber security firm Redscan is doing just this in an effort to steal data with emails claiming to be Attack.Phishing from Airbnb . The attackers appear to be Attack.Phishing targeting business email addresses , which suggests the messages are sent Attack.Phishing to emails scraped from the web . The phishing message addresses the user as an Airbnb host and claims Attack.Phishing they 're not able to accept new bookings or send Attack.Phishing messages to prospective guests until a new privacy policy is accepted . `` This update is mandatory because of the new changes in the EU Digital privacy legislation that acts upon United States based companies , like Airbnb in order to protect European citizens and companies , '' the message says , and the recipient is urged Attack.Phishing to click a link to accept the new privacy policy . Those who click the link are asked to enter their personal information , including account credentials and payment card information . If the user enters these , they 're handing the data straight into the hands of criminals who can use it for theft , identity fraud , selling on the dark web and more . `` The irony wo n't be lost on anyone that cybercriminals are exploiting the arrival of new data protection regulations to steal Attack.Databreach people 's data , '' said Mark Nicholls , Director of Cyber Security at Redscan . `` Scammers know that people are expecting exactly these kinds of emails this month and that they are required to take action , whether that 's clicking a link or divulging personal data . It 's a textbook phishing campaign Attack.Phishing in terms of opportunistic timing and having a believable call to action '' . Airbnb is sending messages to users about GDPR , but the messages contain far more detail and do n't ask the users to enter any credentials , merely agree to the new Terms of Service . While the phishing messages might look legitimate at first glance , it 's worth noting they do n't use the right domain - the fake messages come from Attack.Phishing ' @ mail.airbnb.work ' as opposed to ' @ airbnb.com ' . Redscan has warned that attackers are likely to use GDPR as bait Attack.Phishing for other phishing scams Attack.Phishing , with messages claiming to be Attack.Phishing from other well-known companies . `` As we get closer to the GDPR implementation deadline , I think we can expect to see a lot a lot more of these types of phishing scams Attack.Phishing over the next few weeks , that 's for sure , '' said Nicholls , who warned attackers could attempt to use the ploy to deliver malware in future . `` In the case of the Airbnb scam email , hackers were attempting to harvest Attack.Databreach credentials . Attack vectors do vary however and it 's possible that other attacks may attempt to infect hosts with keyloggers or ransomware , for example . '' he said . Airbnb said those behind the attacks have n't accessed Attack.Databreach user details in order to send Attack.Phishing emails and that users who receive Attack.Phishing a suspicious message claiming to be Attack.Phishing from Airbnb should send it to their safety team . `` These emails are a brazen attempt at using our trusted brand to try and steal Attack.Databreach user 's details , and have nothing to do with Airbnb . We 'd encourage anyone who has received Attack.Phishing a suspicious looking email to report it to our Trust and Safety team on report.phishing @ airbnb.com , who will fully investigate , '' an Airbnb spokesperson told ZDNet . Airbnb also provided information on how to spot a fake email to help users to determine if a message is genuine or not .