COVID-19 Business Grant Scam Emails
We are away of a number of organisations who have been subject to attempts by fraudsters to acquire information, which would support fraudulent applications for COVID-19 Retail, Hospitality and Leisure grants.
Each attempt uses the closure of premises or homeworking to justify the enquiry for information relating to premises, reference numbers and/or Extended Retail Discount.
Fraudsters are using 'known' business contact domains; however further investigation confirms the e-mail addresses are not formatted correctly, website details are incorrect, telephone numbers false and the businesses unaware of the correspondence.
Extra care must be taken to ensure information is not inadvertently shared with fraudsters. Businesses were able to confirm the scam by making direct contact with the organisations prior to responding to the enquiries. Please share this alert and support your business to take all necessary precautions in ensuring valuable information and in turn grants are only released to legitimate recipients.
Please ensure you do not give information out ,to unknown parties , relating to your business details or business rates. Also do not give out information relating to your Grant Claim, unless you have contacted the organisation directly via a validated source.
If you suspect you have been the recipient of a fraudulent email then contact us via the form here. Or contact your local Citizens Advice here.
