27/07/2023
FRAUDULENT MOT TEST SCAM
We’ve been on the receiving end of an influx of phone calls and messages from people stating that they have paid for a ‘guaranteed pass MOT test’ online via Facebook and Instagram and have received an ‘MOT certificate’ via WhatsApp or Messenger from someone claiming to work at our garage going by various names.
We have been provided with screenshots of the ‘certificates’, which are NOT an MOT certificate; they are simply fraudulent photoshopped screenshots that are unsigned, misspelt, and clearly edited with the wrong font. The perpetrator has stated to people that the ‘MOT’ will take X number of days to be ‘on the system’. Which is false, as an actual MOT test is logged practically immediately.
We have been in contact with the police and Action Fraud, and if you’re reading this after having been in touch with the perpetrator, I suggest you do the same. Any more information you can provide would be helpful. There is no one working here by the name of L.C. Mark, Jayden Pearce, or Frank Philips, and many other fake accounts which have been created in order to scam people. Whoever you have been in contact with is in no way connected to us; they have simply chosen to photoshop our business name onto a fake document to scam people online.
There are many garages that are suffering from the same problem due to this scam. We are having to take the time to answer the phone at least once a day to explain to someone that they have been a victim of fraud and that it is in no way connected to us, which they are obviously displeased to hear.
Finally, not only have we never and will never provide an MOT TEST on a vehicle online or over the phone, we also DO NOT have the capability to do so.