Sefton residents are being asked to be vigilant to online financial scams. The latest involves a phishing email pretending to be the Department for Work and Pensions.

What is a phishing email?

Some people online try to trick you into giving them private details like your password, bank card number, or other personal info. This is called phishing.

They might send you an email that looks like it’s from your bank, the government, or a well-known website. The message might:

• Ask you to click a link
• Tell you to download something
• Try to scare you by saying your account is in danger
• Offer a prize or reward if you act fast

These messages are fake. They are made to look real so you’ll trust them. Don’t click on anything or give out your details.

How to deal with phishing emails 

You can report phishing directly to Action Fraud, part of the National Fraud and Cyber Crime Reporting Centre. To report it, please visit the Action Fraud website.

Action Fraud can:

• 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