Retail fraud email legit?

[purpleturtle]

I received this email and was unsure whether it was real but believe so, as the information they have provided about me is correct. I wanted second opinions before I gave my address and details to pay the settlement and was told to come here for advice. Does this look legitimate, and should I provide my details, or does this look dodgy?

 

[jfollows]

I think it’s legitimate, but you could have chosen to ignore it in the first place, but now that you’ve responded you’ll probably be wise to pay.
These emails come from them snooping at your purchase history, but without direct evidence of your committing an offence. You can buy tickets for someone else who has a railcard, for example, with no need to hold one yourself.

 

[purpleturtle]

I think it’s legitimate, but you could have chosen to ignore it in the first place, but now that you’ve responded you’ll probably be wise to pay.
These emails come from them snooping at your purchase history, but without direct evidence of your committing an offence. You can buy tickets for someone else who has a railcard, for example, with no need to hold one yourself.

Thank you so much! They got me haha. The transport police threat made me think I had to.

 

[John R]

If you are confident that the information they have about you in respect of travel irregularities is correct then I think you can assume it is genuine.

 

[Cpt_Fool]

Thank you so much! They got me haha. The transport police threat made me think I had to.

A friend of mine got one after he couldn't show a guard his railcard. Also how would they know the Advance tickets were used on the wrong train?

 

[John R]

A friend of mine got one after he couldn't show a guard his railcard. Also how would they know the Advance tickets were used on the wrong train?

Scanned at a gateline will give a timestamp for them to work off.

 

[Western Gaffer]

Also how would they know the Advance tickets were used on the wrong train?

If the timestamps of barrier ticket scans at the destination were earlier than the arrival of the booked train, or even on a different day if the booked train operated as normal, those would be something of a giveaway....

 

[WirralLine]

The majority of the intel the fraud team at TFW get is from conductors scanning tickets onboard, who then flag the ticket on the machine and report to the fraud team.

They then build up a picture with data requests to retailers and look through entry/exit scans, onboard scans, flagging history etc.

 

[Starmill]

If you've offered to pay then you don't really have a choice. Had you ignored this it's most likely nothing further would have come of it.