Beware of this British Gas email scam offering a fake energy refund
Scammers are impersonating British Gas with fake emails tempting recipients to click a link to get a fake energy refund.
It's not the first time that scammers have capitalised on the cost of living crisis to cash in on your money worries – we've seen a number of fake refunds, giveaways and gift cards all attempting to steal your personal and financial details.
Find out what this scam looks like and how to report it.
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British Gas fake refund
This email scam offers you a refund of £315 for overpayment of energy in 2020-2021. Any official energy refund is managed through the British Gas website and your online account, not over emails like this. So you can disregard it.
The email uses the official British Gas logo and branding and is addressed to your email address.
Although the email looks seemingly legitimate, addressing you by your email address and not your name is a potential giveaway that it's from a fraudster.
The scam email reads: ‘British Gas wants to inform you that you are eligible for a payment refund. Our records indicates [sic] that you have paid more than you should have for your British Gas service from 2020 - 2021.
‘Because of this reason and that we value our clients we have decided to refund the total amount which you have overpaid.’
It then lists the refund amount as £315 and includes a dodgy link with the words ‘Claim your refund now!’ on it.
The email also includes a bogus reference number to give the impression that it's authentic.
Reporting British Gas email scams
Do not click on the link in the email. If you think the email you received could be genuine, you should contact British Gas using its official contact number from its website to verify the authenticity of the email.
Suspicious emails claiming to be from British Gas can be forwarded to phishing@centrica.com.
You can also report scam emails by forwarding them to report@phishing.gov.uk and make sure to never click on any links within the email.
Make sure to use Hotmail’s 'Report phishing' button and Gmail’s 'Report spam' button to report scam emails.
