Stay Safe Online – Automated Phone Calls and Scam Emails

I got an automated voice message on my mobile phone the other day: “This is Officer Dennis Gray from H M Revenue and Customs; the hotline to my division is 41939233476; do not disregard this message and call us back, if you do not call us back and we do not hear from your solicitor either, get ready to face the legal consequences.”  The voice had an American accent so didn’t sound very legitimate, but it was still scary.

I also recently received an automated phone call to our landline saying we had missed a call from our internet provider who had been trying to contact us about a problem with our internet.  The voice said that our internet would be disconnected within the next 24 hours as they had noticed illegal activity on our account and to press 1 to… whereupon I put the phone down.

NEVER respond to automated calls.  Look up the correct number on the internet – type into Google ‘contact EE’ or ‘contact BT’ and Google will find the correct contact number for you to ring.  If in doubt ring us 01948 840102 – advice is free.

SCAM TAX REFUND EMAILS

Watch out for spam emails purported to be from HMRC. Apart from the fact that Outlook marked it as spam, there are a few things you can notice and check – without clicking on the link you can hover over it – and it is obvious that it is not going to take you to https://gov.uk

You can type into the search bar on Google: ‘Sign in to HMRC online service self assessment’ and it will take you to the correct website www.gov.uk where you can type in your log in details and find out if you really are due a tax refund.

Also, it doesn’t have any name on the email – real emails from the tax office will have your name in full – including middle names.  What is likely to happen if you follow the link – you will try and log in and type in all the passwords you know – and the scammer then has a record of all of them…..

Find details of other recent scams here www.actionfraud.police.uk and on our Facebook page rainford-it -stay safe online and here on our website.  If in doubt – call us – advice is free.

We have also been getting emails saying our domain name has expired – or our hosting is running out – if you have all your IT – domain names, website hosting, website and emails in one place – it’s just one number to ring – 01948 840102 – for all your IT support.

Published in the January, 2021 edition of the Whitchurch Gossip