Brentwood Borough Council are quickly trying to make residents aware of a scam letter that has been received by some Brentwood households claiming they have outstanding Council Tax charges.

The letter is from a company calling themselves QDC Collection Agents, with a PO Box address in Macclesfield. The letter is dated 04/02/2016 and the letter says they owe £67.50 in late charges. Brentwood Borough Council has not and has never had any affiliation with QDC collection agencies.

The Leader of Brentwood Borough Council, Councillor Louise McKinlay, said: “This is a scam letter that has not been sent by the Council nor on behalf of the Council. We have never heard of this company and would always advise residents directly with any such issues. Our advice to those who have received this letter is to not pay any monies to QDC Collection Agents nor to reply to it, please just bin the letter. Thanks to the residents who have contacted us about this and previous scams because when we know – we can warn other residents.”

The Council have contacted Essex Police regarding the letters from QDC Collection Agency and their advice is that if any residents have made payments using the details on the letter, they should call them on 101 and ask to be put through to the Essex Crime Bureau so it can be logged with them. The Council have also submitted a fraud report online to Action Fraud.

If residents have any queries on their Council Tax account they should contact the Council on 01277 312500 or visit www.brentwood.gov.uk/counciltax