Nearly 150 Spanish cities are required to implement a Low Emission Zone (ZBE) by 2023. The measure, which aims to reduce environmental pollution and preserve and improve air quality and public health, affects towns with more than 50,000 inhabitants. At the moment there are still few cities that have established a LEZ, but throughout the year they must do so in order not to breach the regulations.
To classify vehicles based on their emissions, the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) designed environmental labels. These badges positively discriminate against the most environmentally friendly cars and allow them to circulate in areas with restrictions for the most polluting vehicles.
Although few localities establish the obligatory nature of wearing the sticker on the front window of the car -Madrid is one of them-, the General Directorate of Traffic advises displaying it so that identification is easier. For this reason, when this labeling system was established, the DGT itself was in charge of sending the owners of each car the sticker that corresponded to each one of them.
The owners of the vehicles that at that time did not receive the sticker or have lost it have different authorized channels to acquire the badge. Apart from accredited entities, the other distributors of DGT environmental labels act fraudulently. From VerificaRTVE, a public television website that denounces hoaxes and false information circulating on social networks, they warn about a scam carried out by a website that impersonates the identity of the DGT and sells environmental labels online.
The website is presented under the name of ‘DGT Online’ and one of the services offered to users is the possibility of acquiring the Traffic environmental label. The site provides information about the different badges that exist and incorporates a search engine to consult the type of label by entering the vehicle’s license plate. To make the query, the site accesses the DGT database.
When accessing the section to buy the badge, the website allows you to select one of the four possible stickers (Zero, Eco, B and C) and purchase the one that corresponds to your vehicle for 8.95 euros. The order is processed by ordinary mail or, if preferred, by certified mail with an additional cost of 6 euros.
However, as reported by VerificaciónRTVE, it is a scam. Public television echoes the complaint received by a user who made the payment required to acquire a label and has not received the badge. He ensures that when he has claimed the badge being sent to the website, he has not received a response either by phone or by email. The postal address of the company headquarters that appears on the web is false.
The General Directorate of Traffic confirms that this website has nothing to do with said body and urges users to purchase environmental labels through authorized sales channels. The DGT informs on its website that the cost of the label is 5 euros, but warns that “it may be increased by shipping costs and other items, and may vary from one seller to another.” Hence, in the case of the web that supplants Traffic, the price of the label is 8.95, not including shipping costs.
The fraudulent website uses the corporate image of the official DGT portal and uses the initials of the official body to better position itself in Internet search engines. Likewise, it presents the same drop-down menus that the official DGT page shows to answer frequently asked questions about environmental labels.
