Reminder to be cautious if you receive unexpected emails from official looking organisations

Posted on November 03 2013

This is a reminder from Derbyshire Constabulary to be cautious if you receive unexpected emails from official looking organisations.

For example, you receive an email that looks like it’s from your bank. The message may ask you to ‘update’, ‘validate’ or ‘confirm’ your details. It will probably direct you to a website that looks just like your bank’s site. Scam emails are designed to trick you into revealing your personal information and passwords so the scammers can raid your account, run up bills or commit financial crimes in your name.

This is called phishing.

Protect yourself

Remember: although your bank may contact you by email, they will never ask you to confirm your user name and password by clicking on a link in an email and visiting a website.

“Read the advice on

Unsure about an e-mail you have received?

Some common forms of false e-mails include:

  • False claims that people have won on a national / state lottery (known as fake lottery scams).
  • False claims that people have been left money in a will (known as will frauds).
  • False requests from banks or other financial institutions for customers to verify their security details (known as phishing frauds).
  • False requests for help from people to assist in moving large sums of money from one jurisdiction to another, in return for a high percentage fee (known as advanced fee, or “419” frauds).
  • False requests to people using Internet auction sites to remit monies owed via routes other than the official settlement system run by the genuine Internet site.
  • False claim that you are owed a Tax Return from the council or HMRC.

If you receive any of these kinds of e-mails and if you are unsure about any e-mail you receive, the best general advice we can give is do not respond to it in any way. Delete the e-mail without replying to it.

Report scam emails to Action Fraud at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

“To report fraud, get advice or view the latest fraud news and alerts visit

Action Fraud is the UK’s national fraud and internet crime reporting centre.