This is where a criminal persuades you to give them your personal or financial details by pretending to be from a company or person you may know.
Criminals may contact you by email (phishing), text message (smishing) or phone call (vishing), and can even replicate genuine phone numbers or email addresses to appear legitimate. That’s why it’s important you find a trusted contact number or email address before responding.
Here are some of things you can do to protect yourself:
- If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Take the time to stop and think about a request.
- Avoid opening emails or attachments and clicking on links in messages you weren’t expecting – whether by email, text or social media (including WhatsApp).
- Vanquis will never ask you to click on a link to verify a transaction. We’ll only ask you to reply with a ‘Y’ or ‘N’.
- If you’re unsure about something, call the company using the number on their website or the back of your card. Criminals may use scam ads on search engines and social media with fake phone numbers.
- Never share a one-time passcode with anyone over the phone (including by typing it into the keypad), by text message or by email. Doing this could let someone access your account, spend on it or change your details.
- Be wary of messages that ask you to pay a fee as you’ve won a competition prize or need to rearrange a delivery. They’re most likely a scam.
If you’ve received a suspicious email or text claiming to be from Vanquis and you’ve shared personal or financial information, please contact our Customer Service Team as soon as you can.
They’ll take steps to help secure your account. Visit our contact us page to find out how to get in touch.
Suspicious texts can be reported for free to 7726. This reports the message to your mobile phone provider.
A suspicious email can be forwarded and reported to [email protected]. The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will then investigate it.
To learn about more scams, take a look at The Little Book of Big Scams:
