Don't fall for this British Airways voucher scam email
Watch out for a new scam email offering a free £1,000 voucher from British Airways.
Fraudsters are sending emails pretending to be from British Airways in an attempt to steal your personal details.
The email appears to be from British Airways and says you’re entitled to a complimentary flight to anywhere in the world.
However, a closer look quickly reveals that all is not what it seems. The email is sent from an address that definitely isn’t British Airways HQ – the one we received was from reply@tuxx17.confidentialitate.com.
On top of that a formatting glitch in the subject line hints that the email may not be genuine. Although, that can occasionally happen in genuine emails.
Within the email it tells you that in order to celebrate British Airways launching several new routes you have the chance of winning a £1,000 flight. Another hint that the email isn’t genuine comes in the grammar and the pressure to act fast: “Don’t think twice. This offer is available through today only!”
You're then invited to click on a link to select your ‘dream destination’. Don’t click on the link. If you do you are taken to a web page and asked to enter various personal details that the scammers may then use to steal your identity.
Key signs of a scam email
Don't fall for a scam email like this one. These are the key signs to watch out for:
- The sender’s email address doesn’t match with the real organisations web address
- You aren’t addressed by your proper name, instead there is a generic greeting such as ‘dear customer’
- There is pressure to act quickly – either you need to quickly claim a prize or if you don’t act your account will be closed
- You need to click on a link in order to act
- You are asked for personal information such as a user name, password or your bank details
- Mistakes – scam emails often contain spelling and grammatical errors.
Keep an eye on your credit report for signs of suspicious activity
More scams to watch out for:
Don't fall for this supermarket voucher scam
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Comments
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What a coincidence, I have just found one of these messages in my junk folder. The sender was British Airways <mftzvqmm@wigandeals.com>. It was addressed to "Dear Subscriber" and the company address in the small print was in Mumbai. That's quite near Wigan, isn't it? *** Alarm Bells *** I wonder how many billions of these things they have to send out in order to get a single bite?
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There are some more serious BA scams out there: * Charging taxes/surcharges on avios redemption tickets that are altogether higher than a price of a full cash ticket available on BA website. * Charging £1.80 for a bottle of water on short haul flights. * Charging £5 fee for paying on BA website with a British Airways branded Amex credit card.
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03 October 2016