Emails – Security & Scams

Emails

• You should check any unexpected email correspondence received is genuine. This is particularly important if the correspondence is asking you to provide any of the following:
  • personal information,
  • funds or
  • informing you of new bank details.
•  Please contact us immediately by telephone if you are concerned and we can help clarify any details.

PLEASE NOTE: 

• We do not provide any bank details as part of email correspondence. If it is provided it will be contained in an attachment e.g. a PDF document.
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority provide a scam alert search which will warn you about people who call themselves solicitors but are not. Just go to https://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/scam-alerts/

What should you do if you suspect that you have received a scam email?

• Do not click on any links in the scam email.
• Do not reply to the email or contact the sender/s in any way.
• If you have clicked on a link in the email, do not supply any information on the website that may open.
• Do not open any attachments that arrive with the email.
• If you think you may have compromised the safety of your bank details and/or have lost money due to fraudulent misuse of your cards, please contact your bank immediately.
• If you think you have have lost money due to fraudulent misuse of your cards, please contact your bank immediately.

Fake emails often may display some of the following characteristics:

• The sender’s email address doesn’t match the trusted organisation’s website address.
• The email is sent from a completely different address or a free web mail address.
• The email does not use your name, but uses a non-specific greeting like “dear customer”.
• A sense of urgency e.g. you must act immediately or your account may be closed.
• A prominent website link. These can be forged or seem very similar to the proper address, but even a single character’s difference means a different website.
• A request for personal information such as user name, password or bank details.
• The email contains spelling and grammatical errors.
• You weren't expecting to get an email from the company that appears to have sent it.
• The entire text of the email is contained within an image rather than the usual text format.
• The image contains an embedded hyperlink to a bogus site.

Further guidance, useful tips and reporting instructions can be found at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/scam-emails.