MISLEADING WEBSITES AND GOVERNMENT SERVICES

That this House notes that a number of websites have been established with the express purpose of conning people trying to pay for government and local government services online; further notes that such websites include payments for the London Congestion Charge, to DVLA and to the Land Registry; further notes such websites try to evade the law by offering spurious services and declaring they are not the official site in small print; further notes such websites are obtaining credit, debit card and bank details which may not be protected from abuse; believes there can be no justification for these sites which are deliberately designed to catch out the unwary; calls on government and local government to warn the public not to use unofficial sites for payment for government and local government services and to contact Google to ask that these sites are not placed first when googling for payment for these services; further calls on the Government to legislate urgently to outlaw these sites; and further calls on the Government and the police to investigate all of these sites for potential breaches of existing law.