Homebase customers are being urged to be vigilant as fraudsters are pretending to be from the brand and trying to steal their personal and financial information.
Thousands of people have reported scam emails impersonating home improvement brands, such as the retailer, Action Fraud warned today.
Criminals purport to be from well-known and trusted brands, using their logos within the correspondence, meaning it could be easy to fall victim.
Action Fraud said there have been 3,568 reports of this kind so far.
The emails claim to give away various DeWalt products, such as drills and backpacks.
In an example released by Action Fraud, the email claimed: “Answer and win. You’ve been chosen to receive a brand new DeWalt BackPack. Click here!”
Criminals are purporting to be from DeWalt and Homebase
ACTION FRAUD
However, it’s far from the recipient’s lucky day, as the messages contain links which lead to malicious websites.
These sites are designed to steal personal and financial information.
If a person has doubts about a message, they’re advised to contact the organisation directly, using details from the official website rather than the numbers or addresses in the message.
Suspicious emails can be reported by forwarding them to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) via report@phishing.gov.uk.
Criminals have also been known to pose as Government departments such as HMRC in a bid to try to steal people's personal details.
Earlier this year, taxpayers were warned about bogus tax refund offers, with scammers potentially duping people who had recently submitted a self-assessment tax return.
The scammers operated over email, phone and text messages, the tax department warned.
These phishing scams, in which they copy the design and branding of a genuine website, fraudsters try to gather personal details, which they can then sell on to criminals, or attempt to access people's bank accounts.
Kelly Paterson, HMRC’s chief security officer, said: “With the deadline for tax returns behind us, criminals will now try to trick people with fake offers of tax rebates.
“Scammers will attempt to dupe people by email, phone or texts that mimic government messages to make them appear authentic.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Homebase customers are being targeted with suspicious messages, Action Fraud has warned
GETTY | PA
“Don’t rush into anything, take your time and check HMRC scams advice on gov.uk.”
People can forward suspicious emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and report tax scam phone calls to HMRC on gov.uk.
They can forward suspicious texts claiming to be from HMRC to 60599.
