At a time where online scams and phishing are massively on the increase due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic, the UK government has launched a new fast and efficient service to quickly report phishing attempts and online scams to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of the Government’s Cyber and Security Agency, GCHQ.
How Does It Work?
All that you have to do is forward any phishing messages or scams to receive to report@phishing.gov.uk and the NCSC will investigate.
As reported by MoneySavingExpert today, they will analyse both the message and any websites in links to and come to decision about whether it is a scam or not.
If it believes it is a scam or malicious actions they may take include:
- Seek to block the address the email came from, so it can no longer send emails.
- Work with hosting companies to remove links to malicious websites.
- Raise awareness of commonly reported suspicious emails and methods used.
You will not be informed personally of the outcome for each e-mail that you submit, however you can be sure that they will investigate such reports and take appropriate action. In the first week of the new service they are reported to have received 25,000 reports and as a direct results have axed over 400 phishing campaigns.
Well done NCSC and remember to report anything suspicious and anything received out of the blue should be treated with caution. If in doubt, take 5 to think about it and although we are on lockdown, friends and family are still available via the phone, so reach out to them and make the call – and have a nice chat and a cuppa at the same time!