What is phishing?
Phishing is an email scam designed to trick you into handing something over to a fraudster, whether that’s money or your personal information such as bank account numbers or online banking passwords.
How to spot a phishing email
Phishing emails can often look very convincing. At first glance they might look very similar, even identical, to a genuine email from a trusted company, using the same logos, layout and language that you’re familiar with.
The important thing to look out for is that they’ll often ask you to do something which can benefit the fraudster.
They could include messages like these :
"Your account has been blocked. Please click the following link to verify your account log-in to gain access."
"Your account has been compromised. Please change your password using the following link."
"To claim your refund, please click the following link.”
Phishing emails can contain viruses that infect your computer once a link is clicked or an attachment is opened. These are particularly dangerous and are often used by fraudsters to lead victims into more elaborate online scams. Be sure to never click on anything that looks suspicious.
Learn about pharming
How to check if an email is genuinely from NS&I
We’ve added new features to our emails to help you better identify them as genuine messages from us.
- If you’ve registered with a UK home address, we’ll use part of your postcode in the emails we send, except for Premium Bonds prize winner emails.
- Emails from NS&I will have ‘NS&I Customer Services’ or “NS&I’ as sender names and will be from one of the following email addresses:
- We’ll never send you a link in an email going directly to our login page, or ask you to enter your online banking details.
- Our email footers will only contain links to our ‘Contact us’ page, privacy notice and official NS&I social media channels such as Twitter (@nsandihelp) and Facebook (@nsandi).
If you have a concern about an email that appears to be from NS&I, please send it to us straight away at:
