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Council warns residents of malicious email scam

A local authority has warned residents to be on their guard against cyber criminals after it revealed that thieves using a false council email address had been trying to extort money from people.

Guildford Borough Council has warned that someone using a false @guildford.gov.uk domain name, going by the name HMRC Gov UK, had contacted residents in a bid to get their hands on credit and debit card information.

The scam is something known as ‘phishing’, where the sender disguises themselves as a trustworthy entity in order to trick victims into revealing sensitive personal information.

Guildford also reassured residents that details had not been obtained from its systems, and that any personally identifiable information held by the authority was secure.

“Guildford Borough Council has become aware of an email phishing scam which is using a spoofed (false) @guildford.gov.uk sender address,” a spokesperson for the council stated.

“Please be advised that this is a phishing email scam and it is not a message from Guildford Borough Council. If you receive this email you should not click on any of the links it contains and immediately delete it.

“Guildford Borough Council will never ask for credit/debit card information, nor will we inform you of any rebates of any type by email.”

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