Action Fraud: Over 800 reports of scam emails impersonating life insurance companies

Scammers have sent out hundreds of bogus emails over the past few weeks, impersonating life insurance companies.

Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime, has received over 800 reports of fraudulent emails purporting to be from reputable life insurance companies.

The scam emails contain links directing unsuspecting recipients to malicious websites.

These sites are designed to steal sensitive personal and financial information from individuals.

In response to the rising number of these incidents, Action Fraud has issued guidance on handling suspicious messages.

Should recipients doubt an email’s authenticity, they are advised to contact the purported sending organisation directly.

It is important that individuals do not use any contact details provided in the suspicious email itself.

Instead, they should use the official contact details from the organisation’s website.

This precaution is vital as fraudulent emails often contain fake contact information leading directly back to the scammers.

The guidance stresses that legitimate banks and official sources will never request personal information via email, a tactic commonly used by scammers to harvest data.

As a proactive measure to combat these fraudulent activities, the public is encouraged to forward any suspicious emails to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) at report@phishing.gov.uk.

This service plays a crucial role in the UK’s defence against the growing threat of email-based fraud, offering the government a means to track and respond to such malicious activities.