Watch out for phishing HMRC message scams amid third UK lockdown
There has been a significant and coordinated surge of fake HMRC emails and SMS text messages promising financial aid and “grants” in the UK at the start of the country’s third national lockdown.
As the UK enters its third national lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, scammers are trying to cash in with a large email and text message scam campaign aimed at luring victims into visiting malicious phishing websites.
Such scam messages have appeared during previous lockdowns, and promise recipients that they can apply for financial aid and government grants by clicking a link and entering their personal information on a website. And now cyber crooks are sending out a new wave of scam messages such as the one below are asking recipients to click a malicious link during the third UK-wide lockdown.
From HMRC: The third lockdown has been announced, we have been issued a grant off £240 to help during this period, visit to claim :http://govrebategrant.com/
However, while the UK government does indeed have a number of financial aid programs available such as the worker’s furlough scheme, there are no financial aid programs or grants available that require someone click a link in a message and fill out a form in this manner.
Upon clicking the link in the above message, recipients are directed to a website (see below) that appears to mimick the government’s own website. However it’s a malicious phishing site that, among other things, asks users to enter their credit card information, rendering a victim’s bank accounts vulnerable to fraudulent transactions.
Remember…
– The UK government will never ask you to click a link in a message to apply for financial aid.
– Always check the web address of websites when entering information to see if they are legitimate. The website in the phishing website above does not link to the government website.
– If in doubt, speak to someone before clicking links and offering up personal or banking information.
– If you’re not confident you could spot a phishing scam, use anti-phishing software on your device that can detect and block these websites before it’s too late. Our security software recommendations are here for desktop and laptop users.
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