2 men behind over 40 websites imitating government services have been sentenced today.
The men, Thomas William Gall and Shezad Parvez, who ran more than 40 misleading websites that tricked people into overpaying for government services, including for the Dartford Crossing and the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), have been sentenced today at Bristol Crown Court following an investigation by National Trading Standards (NTS).
The elaborate scam saw the men charging inflated prices for services such as road tolls and fishing licences via multiple websites designed to mislead consumers into thinking they were on the official site. The defendants used sponsored links and Google adverts to push their sites to the top of online search results, which is why today NTS is urging people to go to GOV.UK to find government services online.
Both pleaded guilty in September 2025 to fraudulent trading between 1 January 2018 and 19 November 2019. The investigation was led by the NTS eCrime Team, which is hosted by North Yorkshire Council and City of York Council.
Thomas William Gall, aged 42, of Avon Farm, Saltford, Bristol, received a custodial sentence of 2 years and 3 months and a 10-year director disqualification.
Shezad Parvez, aged 46, of Cookham Road, Maidenhead, was received a 2-year sentence (suspended for 2 years), 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and up to 20 rehabilitation activity days. He has also been disqualified from being a director for 6 years.
Sometimes Gall and Parvez would pay the official body and pocket the difference, for example the false website ‘paydartfordcrossing.co.uk’ charged £7.50 per crossing instead of the £2.50 official price. Often though, no payment would be made and more than 780 penalty charge notices (PCNs) were issued in just 8 months to customers who had used the defendants’ various websites to pay the Dart Charge. While all PCNs were cancelled once reported and customers were supported, this caused significant stress and confusion and consumed public resources, costing taxpayers time and money. The defendants even charged for government services that were actually free, with customers paying £19.99 to register a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN) with the DVLA.
The defendants’ websites, which generated over £2.25 million in revenue from customers, each followed a similar format, with disclaimers buried in the small print. Upon realising they had been duped, many victims complained and cancelled their payments, which led various payment service providers to raise the alarm. Google also suspended multiple advertising accounts but, despite repeated warnings from Trading Standards, the defendants did not stop trading.
Following today’s sentencing NTS has released new research which shows that more than a third (34%) of users would look in the wrong place for government services online, such as doing a Google search, using social media or clicking on an advertisement. These methods place consumers at high risk of being caught out by the copycats.
Of those who’ve applied for government services online, 17% have received a fine due to non-payment of something they thought they had paid for. More than a quarter (26%) have paid a handling charge which would not be needed if paying the government body directly, and 1 in 5 have paid more than they expected to for the service.
Mike Andrews, head of the NTS eCrime Team said:
What drove this pair was pure greed. Despite multiple warnings they persisted in fleecing thousands of innocent people who were just going about their business. I’m really pleased with today’s outcome, and proud of our teams who work hard to remove misleading websites and bring the criminals that operate them to justice.
“It’s clear from our research that huge numbers of people are paying over the odds on copycat websites. We urge people to use GOV.UK, the easiest and most secure place to find government services online, and to report suspected misleading websites to the Citizens Advice consumer service on telephone: 0808 223 1133.”
The main government services targeted by the defendants in this case included paying the Dart Charge (managed by National Highways).
Cllr Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment from City of York Council, said:
This conviction is really welcome and is down to the hard work and persistence of the e-crime team.
“Their diligence has resulted in a welcome conviction of criminal fraudsters, and helped protect the rights of drivers who believed they were using a legitimate website for road tolls and other charges. The number of choices can be confusing, always check that you are using a legitimate website ending in gov.uk before paying.”
North Yorkshire Council's executive member for managing our environment, Cllr Richard Foster, said:
Copycat websites are a cynical attempt to exploit public trust.
“These sites trick hard-working people into paying inflated fees for services that are usually cheaper, or even free, from genuine central and local government channels.
“The sentences handed out to these criminals send a clear message that misleading the public for profit in this way will not be tolerated.”
A National Highways spokesperson said:
We understand how frustrating and upsetting it can be for people who’ve unknowingly used unofficial websites and ended up paying more, or worse, receiving a penalty notice. That’s why we’ve worked closely with Trading Standards to take action against these fraudulent operators.
"These prosecutions demonstrate the importance of working together to protect customers. We’ll keep supporting anyone affected and remind people to always use the official Dart Charge site on GOV.UK.”
Another key service targeted was the London ULEZ charges, operated by Transport for London (TfL).
Christina Calderato, TfL’s Director of Strategy, said:
These individuals have used copycat websites to rip people off and betrayed the trust of those honestly trying to pay road user charges in London. Not only have the victims of these scams been unable to pay for the charges they incurred but they have had the stress of receiving fines as result of this fraudulent activity.
We welcome this sentencing and hope those affected find some comfort in these criminals being brought to justice. This prosecution by NTS sends a message to those considering similar malicious activity: you will be caught and you will face the consequences of your actions.
“We continue to urge drivers to only pay through the official TfL website and anyone affected by such scams should report it.”
Consumer advice
When applying for government services online:
- unless you know the exact URL, always start your search at GOV.UK, where you can apply directly for some services or get safe links to the official websites
- if you do a general search, don’t just click on the first result as it might be a paid link; if in doubt, go to GOV.UK and search from there
- don’t click on adverts promoting the service on search engines or social media
- as an additional tool, you can check a URL using a URL checker to see if it’s listed as a scam site
- whilst it is not illegal for third parties to offer a check-and-send-style service for government applications and payments, they must make it explicit that they are not the official website - it's always easiest, cheapest and safest to apply directly via the official government body
If you think you’ve paid a copycat website:
- try and get a refund from your credit or debit card company
- report the website to the Citizens Advice consumer service on telephone: 0808 223 1133
- take screenshots or photos if you can, as these could provide good evidence in case criminals later delete websites to hide their activities
The following are legitimte links to useful pages from GOV.UK and the NHS: