Raising awareness of fraud scams

This week, I am supporting Phishing Awareness Week, a campaign led by Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. It’s an important opportunity to raise public awareness about phishing scams and encourage everyone to report any suspicious communications.

Phishing is when criminals try to trick you into doing ‘the wrong thing’ – like clicking on a link to a fraudulent website. These scams can come through email, text messages, social media, or even phone calls.

If you have received an email that does not feel right – stop. You can do things such as:

• Do not reply, click any links or make any payments.
• Verify it’s genuine by contacting the organisation directly using a trusted phone number or email. For example, you can call your bank on 159.
• Before deleting the email, forward it to report@phishing.gov.uk

If you have already clicked a link, you can:

• Run a full antivirus scan on your device immediately.
• If you’ve shared any passwords, change them across all your accounts as soon as possible.
• Report the incident to Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.police.uk.

For more information and advice on how to protect yourself from fraud: Stop! Think Fraud – How to stay safe from scams