Its great having your email address published on your website so all of your potential customers have direct access to contact you 24/7. Unfortunately, the downside is that it is also available to less scrupulous people and can become a target for spammers and phishers.

Criminals often use fake emails and fake websites, purposefully set up with the sole intention to spread spam and to deceive people into giving away private information such as passwords, date of birth, address and bank details. The technical word for this is ‘phishing.’

For example, they might send you an email that looks official, even containing link to an official website. However, when you try to log on, they can steal your password and any other details you enter.  They may ask you to make a phone call or reply by email or ask you to open an attachment which will often contain a virus.   Criminals are good at making their emails and websites look realistic, however, you can often spot the fake ones.

Look out for:

• Emails that don’t address you by name eg. dear customer
• Dodgy looking email or web addresses.
• Poor design, typos or bad spelling
• Click through Links that don’t match up to the senders domain

If the email is asking you to directly click a link, you can get a good indication of whether it is dodgy simply by hovering over it (BUT DO NOT CLICK).  Your web browser will show the destination address at the bottom left corner of your screen.   If the address does not match the senders company name, you can, with almost certainty decide it is fake.

If in doubt and you are concerned if it is genuine and it is something you really should be dealing with, contact the company who it claims to be from i.e. Lloyds Bank/Paypal/British Gas etc  via their own website or by using a telephone number from any written documentation you may have.  They may tell you outright if it is fake and  may even ask you to forward it onto their fraud department where they will do their best to ensure these people are officially reported.   If it is fake, block the sender using your webmail or email client so they can’t contact you again.

Better to be safe than sorry!