Warning: West Yorkshire Police urges people to delete fake speeding offence email

A warning has been issued by police in West Yorkshire about a spam email claiming to be from its speed camera unit.

The email details the date, time and location of a speeding offence supposedly committed by the driver of a vehicle previously registered to the recipient of the email.

It says DVLA records have not been updated and police will be asking for the person's help in identifying the vehicle's new owner.

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They are told to expect a letter in the post and can click on a link to access a copy of a Notice of Intended Prosecution.

The email features a genuine PO box address used by West Yorkshire Police, but includes a number spelling mistakes and other errors.

Now West Yorkshire Police is warning people that the emails are fake and require no action.

Anyone receiving the email is being urged to delete it and not to click on any links in the email, which might contain malware that could damage a computer or give criminals access to it.

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Detective Chief Inspector Vanessa Smith, of the West Yorkshire and regional cyber crime unit, said: "I would urge people to remain vigilant when receiving emails and to have the most up to date security software on their computer." 

The force stressed it would never use emails to request personal information, such as car registration details.

It has also been spreading the message via its official social media accounts.

A number of people have responded to a tweet about the scam sent by the force's customer contact centre.

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One twitter user, Training Provider, replied: "Thank you for confirming, just received 'my' speeding notification from 'you' - was perplexed as live in Devon and haven't visited #Yorkshire."

Sara McMahon tweeted: "I had one of these today! Decided it had to be spam and deleted it."

Scam emails and other fraudulent activity can be reported to Action Fraud.