RESIDENTS in East Lancashire have been warned about the increase of TV licence scammers.

TV Licensing has today alerted customers to beware of fake emails which claim people are owed a refund or say billing information is out of date and needs to be updated.

These emails often link through to copycat TV licensing websites which ask people to input their personal and financial details, TV Licensing has said.

TVL says it has seen a rise in calls about this issue and Action Fraud reported it had received around 2,500 reports of these emails across the country.

A spokesman, said: “TV Licensing will never email customers, unprompted, to ask for bank details, personal information or tell you that you may be entitled to a refund."

Anyone who has provided their details as a result of a fraudulent email should report it via ActionFraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk