An agent sent an email notice by The Property Ombudsman was so convinced that the request for payment was a scam that he forwarded it on to EYE in the hope that we might alert others.
But TPO has confirmed that the email is not a scam and is an authentic request for payment.
The agent said: “We get emails similar to this all the time from fraudsters. I try and teach my staff to ignore them.
“Our banks are constantly reminding us not to click on links we don’t recognise.
“The telephone number provided is not even the registered one for TPO.”
Sandra Weeks, director of finance at TPO, said: “The email received is a legitimate email inviting agents to sign up for direct debit as the method to pay and renew their membership with TPO.
“Members were first informed about this on November 8 as part of the new fee structure announcement.
“TPO is phasing the introduction of direct debit as members are due for renewal.
“Our January and February renewal members have been sent an email asking them to look out for the invitation to sign up to direct debit payments.
“This email informed them we were working in conjunction with our software partners to introduce the payment method and we provided a screenshot pasted within the email as an example of the communication they could expect to receive.
“This was subsequently followed up by a reminder email at the start of January with a link to the sign-up.
“Because we recognise this might be seen as unusual, TPO has provided contact details on each email should members wish to validate the request – which many have.
“We sent an email on Monday which prompted a flurry of phone calls with members wishing to sign up.”
Comments (8)
‘Sandra Weeks, director of finance at TPO, said: “The email received is a legitimate email inviting agents to sign up for direct debit as the method to pay and renew their membership with TPO’.
So why send it out after you’ve set up the DD, as they did in our case? Bags, Wet, Paper are the words that spring to mind with this lot.
Ever asked them for THEIR Complaints Procedure – they haven’t got one! You couldn’t make it up.
What the TPO are not owning up to is the fact that the bank details on the invoices they sent out were incorrect. The first thing I did when I got the suspicious spammy direct debit emails was to check the invoice. I compared the bank details to those used last year and the bank account number was the same but the sort code was different. This is impossible so I phoned TPO on their main number and they informed me that their bank details had changed and that the wrong bank details were on the invoice. Bit of a worry especially as I also received a reminder and they still hadn’t noticed/changed it!
and if we had acted in that way….
Agreed, very shortsighted and poor execution on behalf of the TPO. They can say it’s been done well all they like, the very fact so many people have queried it and not believed it proves otherwise.
How many times does your bank say, do not use hyperlinks to set-up or pay accounts. TPO should know better, doesn’t set a very good example with so much phishing.
It would be interesting to see if the tenants in a story above about losing the deposits complained to TPO, and what the ruling would be…
There is no way, based on this shambles, that they COULD NOT support the Agent!
NEVER EVER send or rely on bank details via email
spam. phishing. they can post a letter to us.