Scams mentioning one of the big six energy firms have jumped 10% in the first quarter of the year as fraudsters try to exploit the cost of living crisis.
Figures from Action Fraud obtained by consumer body Which? shows that January alone saw a 27% year on year increase.
Phishing emails were one of the most common scams, where the scammer posing as an energy supplier emails the customer inviting them to claim a refund, due to a mistake on their energy bill.
Which? said it had come across a scam where a fraudster posing as major supplier Eon, offering a rebate of £85. In order to claim this, the victim was then instructed to click a link and submit their bank details.
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The consumer body warns that these emails can often look legitimate, especially if the scammer has “spoofed” the email display name so it appears to be coming from an official account.
Action Fraud has also warned of a scam which sees criminals cloning prepayment meter tokens with credit pre-loaded, and then selling these on at a cut-rate price. In theory, those purchasing the cloned meter tokens could make significant savings – for example £100 of credit purchased for just £50 – but in reality victims will end up paying for their energy consumption twice, once their legitimate supplier establishes what is happening.
Which? has also seen examples of…
