Fraud Warnings

Example one: Account Takeover Fraud

A fraudster hacks into the email account of a person who is a client of a financial services company, such as BRI. The fraudster then contacts the company, leading to a subsequent exchange of emails regarding a request for money.

The new variation on this type of fraud is that the criminal asks for the funds to be sent to the client’s normal bank account. The financial services company sends the funds.

The fraud continues with the criminal then impersonating the financial services company and contacting the client to advise them that funds have been sent to them in error.  The criminal then provides their own bank details to the client and the client sends the funds on.

Please rest assured that BRI will confirm any email requests with you over the phone and If you do receive an email that asks you to send funds to BRI or other third-party, please ensure that you verify this instruction first.

Example two: Tax Rebate Scams

HMRC are processing genuine tax refunds, however fraudsters are sending scam messages which claim that taxpayers are entitled to a rebate. These messages go on to request that the taxpayer provides their personal account details in order to make their claim.

HMRC are keen to stress that they will only ever inform individuals of a tax refund by post or through their employer, and never via email, text messaging or voicemail.

HMRC are advising taxpayers not to click on any links, download any attachments or provide any personal information, and are requesting that they forward any suspect messages to HMRC.

Advice

We encourage all our clients to follow what are often quite simple precautionary measures to protect themselves from fraud.  One useful source of information is the Take Five to Stop Fraud website https://takefive-stopfraud.org.uk/ which provides invaluable guidance on cyber security.