Phishing Attacks in the UK Have Surged
Over 11 million phishing attacks have been reported to the UK’s Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) over the past year, according to new data from Action Fraud.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has also taken down more than 329,000 phishing sites since the SERS program started in 2020.
“Action Fraud, the national fraud and cybercrime reporting service, launched a national phishing awareness campaign on 24 June 2024, as reporting reached its highest level since SERS launched,” Action Fraud stated.
“New data shows a rise of 44% year-on-year, with almost 11,611,400 reports made to SERS in 2023, up from 8,074,200 reports in 2022. Alongside emails, there has also been a huge number of text messages reported to 7726.”
Claire Webb, Deputy Head of Action Fraud, stated, “When fraudsters go phishing for valuable information, anyone could be a target. They will hook an unknowing victim with a genuine-looking email, in a bid to get them to share personal information, or bank details.
Year over year, the amount of people reporting phishing emails and texts is growing. Action Fraud is urging everyone to be extra vigilant of suspicious-looking emails landing in their inbox, which could contain malicious links leading to unknown websites.”
Action Fraud offers the following advice to help users avoid falling for phishing attacks:
- “If you have any doubts about a message, contact the organisation directly using the contact details on their official website
- Do not use the number or web address in the message. Your bank, or any other official source, will not ask you to provide sensitive information by email
- Received an email that doesn’t feel right? STOP! Report suspicious emails by forwarding them to: report@phishing.gov.uk. Send emails to this address that feel suspicious, even if you’re not certain they’re a scam – they will be checked
- Always report suspicious text messages or scam call numbers, free of charge, to 7726. Your provider can find out where the text came from and block or ban the sender”
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