British Gas is warning that customers may be targeted by sophisticated phishing emails claiming they are entitled to a refund of over £400. The company has identified the email address ‘bills@britishgas.co.uk’ as the sender of many of these scam emails and has warned customers that it is not a genuine email. It is also encouraging customers who are concerned about a suspect phishing email to send it as an attachment to phishing@centrica.com for further investigation.
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Phishing campaigns can be extremely convincing to the untrained eye, but it is worth noting that phishing emails usually include manipulative wording – attempting to force people into giving away information – where legitimate messages would not. Phishing scams are still very common, and particularly clever attempts are increasing, capable of deceiving even those with a high level of awareness. At the moment, when you’re reading something that offers free money or pressurizes you to verify information, it can be very easy to trip up and overlook a scam with no apparent clues. You simply cannot trust all emails, no matter what the body of the message says. Verifying authentic emails has never been more important: it remains your best bet in beating the fraudsters.
When criminals disguise their true identity with an address that looks genuine, they will often sit back and watch the scam unfold right before them. It is worth reminding people to think twice before handing over any details when emails like this enter their inboxes. Sadly, phishing campaigns this still make criminals millions of pounds – even from people who haven’t got accounts with the company they claim to be from.