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How to Report a Phishing Scam

Phishing scams are a problem no matter who you are, how big your business is or what your business does. Successful phishing attempts can be detrimental to both businesses and employees, therefore, it’s important to know how to spot a phishing scam and how to report them. 

Reporting suspicious emails is important, as it could help prevent others.

By reporting phishing scams, you’re helping service providers delete spam email accounts, the authorities remove malicious websites from the internet and prevent others from becoming victims.  

In this blog, cover every way you can report a phishing scam and who you should contact. 

What Should I Do If I Receive a Phishing Email? 

If you receive a suspicious email in your inbox, there’s no need to panic – however, there are a few things that you shouldn’t do.  

  • Don’t click on any links within the email 
  • Don’t download any attachments 
  • Don’t reply to the email 

As soon as you can, you should report it to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC for short). 

Who Can You Report Phishing Scams To? 

The NCSC is a government organisation that provides advice and support for the public and private sector on how to avoid computer security threats. 

They have the tools and ability to remove malicious sites and track down the criminals behind them. 


 Reporting to the NCSC 

To report a phishing scam to the NCSC, simply forward the suspicious email (or a screenshot of it) to report@phishing.gov.uk. 

Once the NCSC receives your email, agents will analyse the email, including who sent it, links it points to and any other reports of suspicious activity.  

If the NCSC deems the email as malicious, it will:  

  • Seek to block the address the email came from, so it can no longer send emails 
  • Work with hosting companies to remove links to malicious websites 
  • Raise awareness of commonly reported suspicious emails and methods used (via partners) 

Please note that you don’t need to report phishing emails that land in your junk/spam mailbox – only report phishing emails that come to your inbox.  

Other Steps You Can Take 

You can also report phishing emails to most email providers, including Microsoft and Google.  

To report a phishing scam to Microsoft, follow these steps:  

Outlook (Desktop) 

  1. Select the suspicious message 
  2. Click report message from the top ribbon 
  3. Select ‘Phishing’ 

Outlook (Online) 

  1. Tick the checkbox next to the suspicious message 
  2. Click the arrow next to ‘Junk’ 
  3. Select ‘Phishing’ 

Google 

  1. Open the message 
  2. Next to reply, click ‘more’ 
  3. Click ‘report phishing’ 

Conclusion 

We hope you’re now confident that you can report phishing scams and help keep your family, friends and colleagues safe from these dangerous attacks. Phishing is still a very common form of cybercrime, so it’s important that we all take steps to stay safe online by reporting suspicious emails as well as educating others about how to identify and report phishing scams when they see them. 

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