In the hope that others may benefit from my case...
I renewed my passport on-line in 2014, probably Googled 'Passport Renewal' or similar, and the site looked like the real thing so I completed the application gave my card details etc. It was the correct fee - about £73.00 IIRC.
After a couple of weeks not hearing anything I rang the Passport Office and queried when would they be sending it.
They said that it was all ready for posting but that I hadn't enclosed the fee, so they'd put it on one side, awaiting payment.
I said I'd paid on-line with the application.
"Oh!", said the Passport guy, and from the tone of his voice I immediately realised that I'd been had.
The application I'd filled in
was genuine, and the PO had processed it, but the £73.00 I'd paid went straight into the scammer's pocket. I suppose they would call it a processing/forwarding fee
.
So I had to send another £73.00 to the PO to get my passport.
The PO were obviously aware of the scam, they recognised it immediately, but they'd received a genuine application form, correctly completed, so they had no reason not to process it. People do forget to put their card details in, or a cheque, and they carry on producing the passport so as not to cause undue delay.
Grrr
.