A phishing email purporting to be from British Gas is fraudulently promising customers a ‘refund’ of more than £400. Have you come across it?
23/09/2020: Scam watch warning
This month, Which? Magazine’s scam watch column was contacted when an email claiming to be from British Gas said a customer owed £2.01 on their gas bill, urging them to click a link to log in then pay.
The email warned that if they didn’t pay within two days then they’d be referred to a debt collection agency.
This is of couse another phishing email that works in the same way as the one we covered here on Which? Conversation in September last year.
Which?’s scams writer, Faye Lipson, said:
“If you receive demands for your money or personal data, always stop and take five minutes to collect yourself.
Think about how you can verify what you’ve been told. In the case of British Gas, you can contact it via the number on your genuine utility bill”
25/09/2019: British Gas phishing email
British Gas is making its customers aware of a fake email telling its customers that they’ve ‘overpaid’.
As with similar phishing attemps we’ve been made aware of, such as this DVLA email, fraudsters are after your personal data and/or bank details.
Here’s what the fake email looks like:
We're aware there is a fake email going around telling our customers they’ve overpaid and are entitled to more than £400 in refunds. If you’ve received this or another suspect phishing email from us, you can send it as an attachment to phishing@centrica.com and we’ll investigate. pic.twitter.com/FOSFV4unvP
— British Gas (@BritishGas) September 18, 2019
The passing off of well-known and respected brands is nothing new. This year we’ve seen Bitcoin scammers impersonating Martin Lewis and the Mirror by email, while a member got in contact with our magazine to alert us of similar phishing attempts disguised as emails from the Royal Mail.
How to deal with phishing emails
We asked British Gas to comment on the email for Which? Conversation. Here’s what it told us:
“We take the issue of phishing very seriously and we take action where we identify any attempts to trick our customers.
We’ve recently become aware of an email which appears to come from ‘bills@britishgas.co.uk’ and we’ve warned customers that this is not a genuine email.
If any of our customers are concerned about a suspect phishing email they can send it as an attachment to phishing@centrica.com so we can look into it further”
We’d encourage anyone who’s seen the scam to send a screenshot to the email British Gas has provided. You can also make Action Fraud aware.
Which? News: 12 banks haven’t yet signed up to new scams protection code
If you think you’ve given a fraudster your bank details, contact your bank immediately. You should also change any passwords that may have been compromised as soon as possible.
You can view all our advice for spotting and reporting scams on our dedicated Consumer Rights site.
Are you a British Gas customer? If so, have you received this scam email?
Let us know in the comments if it’s turned up in your inbox, and help us warn as many people as possible.
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