Stay safe online March 2019 fake gov websites

ImageStay Safe Online

We’ve had a few reports recently of phone calls from people pretending to be from BT – and you may well have contacted BT recently about something so automatically think they are real – until they start asking for personal information. If in doubt, take their name and phone number – check the phone number online – and ring back from a different phone (sometimes they stay on the line).

This scam email really had me worried – but I did immediately note that the address the email came from: is nothing to do with www.gov.uk. So I searched for the phone number 0300 200 3700 on Google – and it did indeed link to www.gov.uk– BUT when I searched for the reference number I found this website::

https://myonlinesecurity.co.uk/fake-hmrc-submission-email-delivers-some-sort-of-malware/

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which said:

“All the alleged senders, amounts, reference numbers, Bank codes, companies, … email addresses and phone numbers mentioned in the emails are all random. Some of these companies will exist and some won’t. Don’t try to respond by phone or email, all you will do is end up with an innocent person or company who have had their details spoofed and picked at random from a long list that the bad guys have previously found. The bad guys choose companies, Government departments and organisations with subjects that are designed to entice you or alarm you into blindly opening the attachment or clicking the link in the email to see what is happening.”

Whatever you do – don’t open the attachment! And never click on any links in emails unless you are absolutely sure they are legitimate.

If you do have a problem – or are worried at all – turn off the computer and ring us – advice is free!

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