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During the COVID-19 coronavirus disease pandemic in March 2020, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson issued a set of movement restrictions intended to help stem the spread of the virus: Some scammers took advantage of those restrictions to send out bogus text messages purporting to come from the U.K. government, warning recipients that they had been detected out of the house more than once (presumably through some undisclosed monitoring program). Recipients were to believe they were now subject to fines of up to £250 which would automatically be taken from their bank accounts, which could escalate to fines of £5,000 and arrest for repeated offenses. The messages like the one displayed above also included a phone number to call for any enquiries or to appeal. No government or law enforcement agency in the U.K. sent out any such text messages — they appear to be part of a scam to steal personal information, and recipients should not respond to them by calling phone numbers or clicking on links they contain. The West Mercia Police, for example, have advised as follows:
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