Have you received a suspicious email about your TV licence?

Sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference between a scam email and a genuine one. Scam emails will often:

• ask for an urgent payment
• say you can get a refund or a cheaper licence
• include a fake licence number and/or grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.

If you are ever unsure about a communication you have received, it is always best to ask someone – perhaps a friend or trusted advisor. You can also go to the TV Licensing website and sign in to your licence at www.tvl.co.uk/yourlicence to check if anything is wrong or call TV Licensing on 0300 303 9695 to speak with someone who can help. 

One in four of us is apparently considering buying a second-hand appliance for our home.

If you score a preloved bargain don’t skimp on safety, register it for free with Register My Appliance. It's easy to do and only takes a few minutes.

Registering your appliance means you'll be kept up to date if ever there's a safety repair or recall. It works for almost 60 brands and covers household appliances that are up to 12 years old.

If something seems too good to be true, then it probably is. This goes for social media posts on Facebook offering free boxes of food from supermarkets and/or the chance to win hundreds of pounds worth of vouchers. These scam posts are usually linked to fake accounts pretending to be from supermarkets. Some ask you to like and share the posts for a greater chance of getting one of the free boxes. The posts will often include links to websites where you will be asked to provide your personal information, which fraudsters can then use to target you with other scams.

Before you are tempted to click on a social media giveaway, take a few minutes to make sure the account is from a legitimate business. Fake social media accounts won’t have a blue tick verification icon on their profile page. A newly set up profile page and a low number of followers are other signs a social media account is fake. If you’re suspicious, you can report a fake account to Facebook by clicking on the three dots at the top right of the post and selecting from the options shown.

If you are struggling to afford to buy food, then further advice and links to support are available at Nottshelpyourself.co.uk

Doorstep scams are crimes carried out by bogus callers, rogue traders and unscrupulous salespeople who go to people’s homes, often uninvited, claiming to be from a legitimate business or trade.

Doorstep scammers aren't always pushy and persuasive, they may seem polite or friendly. So, if you're not expecting someone it's important to be vigilant when you answer the door, especially if you live on your own.

To protect yourself against rogue traders we strongly advise against buying goods or services from doorstep callers. Deter unwanted doorstep traders by displaying a ‘no uninvited callers’ sign on your door or in your front window.

If you are approached at your doorstep and are suspicious of any activity, please report this to us via the Citizens Advice Consumer Services on 0808 223 1133. If the caller will not leave and tries to gain entry, call the Police on 999.

Our Trading Standards officers have been visiting petrol stations across Nottinghamshire to inspect the pumps and make sure they are giving motorists the right amount of fuel when they fill up their cars with petrol or diesel. At a time when the costs of living continue to rise, it's even more important to make sure people are getting what they pay for.

No major issues were found so the county's forecourts got a big thumbs up.

Every week our Trading Standards Officers carry out targeted inspections of businesses around Nottinghamshire to make sure that the products you buy are safe and that you are getting what you have paid for.