This article aims to help you recognise phishing messages and what you can do if you have already responded. The information in this article comes from the National Cyber Security Centre.
What is phishing?
Criminals use email, phone calls, and text messages to make contact with you. These criminals want to convince you to do something which they can use to their advantage.
In a scam email or text message, their goal is often to convince you to click a link. Once clicked, you may go to a dodgy website that could download viruses onto your computer, or steal your passwords and personal information.
Over the phone, the approach may be more direct, asking you for sensitive information, such as banking details.
They do this by pretending to be someone you trust, or from some organisation you trust. This could be your Internet Service Provider (ISP), local council, even a friend in need. The term ‘phishing’ is often used when talking about emails.
Scams during the COVID-19 pandemic
While everyone is worried about the coronavirus, cybercriminals have seen this as an opportunity. In emails and on the phone, they may claim to have a ‘cure’ for the virus, offer financial rewards, or encourage you to donate to worthy causes. Like many scams, these criminals are preying on real-world concerns to try and trick you into interacting. They may also mimic real NHS messages.
These scam messages can be very hard to spot. They are designed to get you to react without thinking.
If you think you’ve already responded to a scam, don’t panic. Whether you were contacted by phone, email, or text message, there is lots you can do to limit any harm.
Reporting suspicious messages
The message might be from a company you don’t normally receive communications from, or someone you do not know. You may just have a hunch. If you are suspicious, you should report it. By doing so you’ll be helping to protect many more people from being affected.
Email
If you have received an email that you’re not quite sure about, forward it to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk.
Text message
Suspicious text messages should be forwarded to 7726. This free-of-charge shortcode enables your provider to investigate the origin of the text and take action if found to be malicious.
What to do if you’ve already responded
If you’ve already responded to a suspicious message, take the following steps:
- Have you been tricked into providing your banking details, contact your bank and let them know
- Do you think your account has already been hacked (you may have received messages sent from your account that you don’t recognise, or you may have been locked out of your account), refer to our guidance on recovering a hacked account
- Have you received the message on a work laptop or phone, contact your IT department and let them know
- If you opened a link on your computer or followed instructions to install software, open your antivirus (AV) software if you have it, and run a full scan. Allow your antivirus software to clean up any problems it finds
- If you’ve given out your password, you should change the passwords on any of your accounts that use the same password
- If you’ve lost money, tell your bank and report it as a crime to Action Fraud (for England, Wales and Northern Ireland) or Police Scotland (for Scotland). By doing this, you’ll be helping the battle against criminal activity, and in the process prevent others from becoming victims of cybercrime
Spotting suspicious messages
Spotting scam messages and phone calls is becoming increasingly difficult. Many scams will even fool the experts. However, there are some tricks that criminals will use to try and get you to respond without thinking. Things to look out for are:
- Authority – Is the message claiming to be from someone official? For example, your bank, doctor, a solicitor, or a government department. Criminals often pretend to be important people or organisations to trick you into doing what they want
- Urgency – Are you told you have a time limit to provide a response (such as ‘within 24 hours’ or ‘immediately’)? Criminals often threaten you with fines or other negative consequences
- Emotion – Does the message make you panic, fearful, hopeful or curious? Criminals often use threatening language, make false claims of support, or tease you into wanting to find out more
- Scarcity – Is the message offering something in short supply, like concert tickets, money or a cure for medical conditions? Fear of missing out on a good deal or opportunity can make you respond quickly
- Current events – Are you expecting to see a message like this? Criminals often exploit current news stories, big events or specific times of year (like tax reporting) to make their scam seem more relevant to you.
If it could be genuine
If you think a message or call might really be from an organisation you have an existing relationship with, like your bank, and you want to be sure:
- Go back to something you can trust. Visit the official website, log in to your account, or phone their advertised phone number. Don’t use the links or contact details in the message you have been sent or given over the phone
- Check to see if the official source has already told you what they will never ask you. For example, your bank may have told you that they will never ask for your password
Make yourself a harder target
Criminals can use publicly available information about you to make their phishing messages more convincing. This can be from your social media accounts.
To make life harder for the criminals, you can do the following:
- For your social media applications and other online accounts, review your privacy settings
- Think about what you post (and who can see it)
- Change your phone number to be unlisted, or ‘ex-directory’
- The NCSC have detailed advice on protecting your privacy on social media here
Find out more about the scams we are aware.
