Fake emails and text messages can be difficult to spot as criminals are constantly creating genuine-
looking messages.
Whether it’s an email asking you to “verify” your bank account details, or a text message claiming
you’ve missed a delivery and are required to pay a redelivery fee, the goal is usually the same – to
trick you into revealing personal and financial information. This is usually done by attempting to
get you to click a link. This will take you to a website which might download a virus to your
computer, or steal passwords or other personal information. This is sometimes known as ‘phishing’.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has the power to investigate and remove scam email
addresses and websites. It’s free to report a suspicious email and it only takes a minute. By
reporting phishing attempts you can:
reduce the amount of scam emails you receive
make yourself a harder target for scammers
protect others from cyber crime online
If you have received an email which you believe to be a scam or you’re not quite sure about,
forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk. You don’t need to forward emails you find in your
spam/junk folder.
For further information about reporting scam emails or text messaged please refer to –
www.ncsc.gov.uk/collection/phishing-scams