Scam warning issued as texts and emails circulate from bogus energy companies

THE News Consumer Champion, Richard Thomson, is warning readers to be on their guard against scam emails and text messages from impersonating energy companies.
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The UK’s energy crisis has seen household utility bills skyrocket following the price cap increase in April, with scammers seeing this as an opportunity to fleece unsuspecting residents out of their hard-earned cash.

The scam messages detail that the impersonating energy companies are offering refunds for alleged overpayments.

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Action Fraud – the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime – has said it has received an escalating number of complaints about scammers going into overdrive sending fake messages purporting to come from energy companies trying to obtain their bank details.

Scammers are using the UK's energy crisis to fleece unsuspecting residents out of their hard-earned cash.Scammers are using the UK's energy crisis to fleece unsuspecting residents out of their hard-earned cash.
Scammers are using the UK's energy crisis to fleece unsuspecting residents out of their hard-earned cash.

Phishing is a scamming method where con-artists use fake emails or weblinks which look trustworthy and familiar, to gain access to sensitive information such as passwords and bank details or to infect the device with malware.

Phishing emails are a very common type of cyber attack and because they’re made to look like they’re from an official source, they’re easy to fall victim to.

Richard Thomson, a columnist and Consumer Champion at The News, is advising anyone receiving such emails to forward them to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at [email protected].

If you have received a suspicious text message, this can be forwarded for free to number 7726.