Please help - scam?

[JibberJabberBlahBlahBlah]

Morning mumsnetters. I’m hoping someone here may have had the same experience and can advise…. I moved house in December and contacted the DVLA to change the address on my licence. I have email confirmation from them. I realised yesterday that a company called ‘British drive’ have been taking £39 a month from my credit card ever since. I called them - the man was aggressive and said I’d signed up to their subscription service and should have read it more thoroughly. He said I hadn’t changed my address with the DVLA but with them. I had never heard of them before seeing them on my statement. They have sent me an email ‘proving’ that I ticked some box apparently saying I’d signed up. I informed my bank and the DVLA about it. I see on trust pilot than others have been caught out by this. Is there anything I can do to get my money back? Actually, it’s the principle more than the money which I realise is a privileged position. I’m so angry!

Always look for Gov.UK - how do these scammy companies get to the top of the search engines anyway

Thank you that’s really helpful

Oh thank you I hadn’t seen this.

Related aside. For anyone who subscribes to the Economist, I’d recommend the podcast series they did “Scammers Inc” - utterly terrifying and eye opening.

You will have. They do that for you. You’ve effectively paid them to do it for you.

I got caught out by something similar trying to get a provisional licence for DD but was alerted to it by my credit card company. Definitely tell your bank/credit card. They may refer you. And yes it is awful. Their website was soooooo similar to the DVLA. It's a total scam.

Sounds like a humiliating mistake and hopefully they gave you a groveling apology for shouting at you - and it make them think twice in future before going off on one. But that’s quite different to the situation of this thread.

It may sound like different situation, but it most likely isn't. My point was that people are often adamant they are/were on correct website while they are/were so far off they are in completely different part of the internet. "it looks the same". It doesn't (except the actual scam copy sites which can do, usually sent via links though, not top of google).

And no😂 People don't generally apologise to customer service staff. Usually they still somehow make it our fault with "Well you should make sure that website of Y hotel is clearer that it's not X hotel" 😂

Thanks to all the posters who have given me helpful advice - I really appreciate you taking the time - and for the kindness some of you have shown. I am going to pursue this very unethical practice!

Op did you get a link from your browsing history yet?

No annoyingly I can only go back one month so trying to figure that out as we speak

I did a similar thing last year when I paid the ULEZ charge. Clicked on the first link like an idiot as it looked legit. It was only when I did it via the proper one a few weeks later and paid a lot less money that I realised what I had done.

Happens a lot OP - at least you won't do it again. I'd chalk it up to experience and move on - it's not really a scam, it's just not reading things properly.

Update: I told the company than I was pursuing the issue through the FCA, DVLA and my local MP and they have just sent an apologetic email and full refund. Interesting…

Great news, well done
I suspect they rely on most people not pursuing it

I really hope this thread serves as a warning or reminder to people to be aware of these types of scammers. They seem so genuine it’s disturbing. I will certainly learn from this as many of you suggested. Thanks again for your help and for those of you who were supportive. Have a good week all.

Yes I suspect you’re right.

If you googled dvla and used one of the top searches it is possible you used a spoof site. They may have still processed the change of address via dvla on your behalf, hence the email confirmation, but you inadvertently signed up to their site and a repeat payment,

There is a similar scam re US visa requirements. It’s easy and straightforward to apply online but companies offer to do it for you.

I think this is what happened yes- which made me think the DVLA must know? It’s terrible they get away with it. No one needs a subscription of this kind.

Not necessarily, dvla don't police where the funds come from. They may be aware of similar scams and third party sites though.

What a frustrating thread.

You have clicked on a false / scam 3rd party site that WAS not the dvla website but was pretending to be, they have updated your driving licence but the scam is the continued payment.

You were not on the dvla website. If the dvla website had been hacked by a 3rd party you would have heard about it on the news. Doubling down and saying you were definitely on the dvla website is just making you look foolish. You thought it was the site but it wasn't, end of. Cancel it with the bank and move on with your life

OR you could read OP's updates
OP made a mistake and thankfully its now sorted

@Hoppinggreen OP spent a good while claiming she HADN'T made a mistake, which was my point! Luckily she's got the money back now and hopefully will be a bit more savvy about what website she's on in the future

This is true, but these sites are very clever: they appear at the top of the list if you put in DVLA, and if you are not aware of what the official site looks like it is easy to believe you are on the right site.
I had something similar happen when paying car tax online, I thought I had clicked on the official site but it was a 3rd party company, the site wasn't clear about this, though fortunately I realised in time to cancel the ongoing payments and just paid a one off fee. It's still very annoying but it is 'buyer beware', and they want your money so will 'push in' in front of the official sites with a site address which is similar, but not identical, to the official website.
I only cottoned on when I was told I would be making regular payments so cancelled subsequent payments straight away.
Since then I don't search for a site via Google, I type in the address from the reminder letter. But even doing that, you have to be so careful to type it in exactly right.
They may not be 'scams' but they are not useful and they do hide their true purpose which is to get your money for doing stuff you can do for free.

Brilliant result, shows they don't want any publicity!