The chaos surrounding energy bills and price caps has made easy work for scammers as they try to trick people into paying for energy bills that don’t exist.
According to Action Fraud, the first quarter of 2022 has seen a 10% increase year on year, in scam reports that mention energy suppliers such as British Gas, EDF, Eon, and Scottish Power.
January alone saw a 27% increase is these scams when compared to January 2021.
Scammers are posing as well-known energy providers, like British Gas and EDF, telling victims that they have an overdue energy bill that needs to be paid immediately otherwise their energy will be cut off.
They’re using rising prices to their advantage as they trick people into thinking they haven’t paid the correct amount.
The links provided within phishing emails take the victims to a malicious website where they are prompted to enter their personal details and pay the bill.
How to avoid this scam:
If you receive an email and you are concerned that you haven’t paid your energy bill correctly, then make sure you ignore any link in the email and go directly to your energy provider through your search engine.
Logging in to your account or giving them a call will confirm whether you have any overdue bills.
