On many occasions we are made aware by our members, that people are being contacted from email domains that resemble ours, often impersonating senior members of the BVCA team. We take cyber security very seriously and do not tolerate phishing attacks directed at our members. As such, we have prepared a guide to help anyone who has received a suspicious email.
1. Verify the email address.
Phishing emails often come from an email address that resembles a legitimate one. Always check the email address of the sender. Emails from the BVCA would only come from “@bvca.co.uk” or “@bvca-email.co.uk” email domains.
2. Check for spelling and grammar errors.
Emails from the BVCA are professionally written to ensure that our members receive high-quality content and communications. If an email message has obvious spelling or grammatical errors, it might be a scam.
3. Check the suspicious links and attachments.
If you suspect that an email message is a scam, do not open any links or attachments that you have received. Instead, hover your mouse over, but do not click the link, and check whether this would take you to a legitimate website www.bvca.co.uk. If you did not expect to receive any documentation from the BVCA, or if the links or attachments look suspicious, do not open them.
4. Is the email sent with a sense of urgency?
Creating a false sense of urgency is a common trick of phishing attacks and scams. The BVCA will only ever send professional communications that are unlikely to claim that the recipient must action, click, call or open an attachment immediately. If you do receive an email encouraging you to act urgently, then it may be a scam, if you are in any doubt please contact your BVCA contacts.
5. Does the email contain a request for information?
BVCA will never ask for your personal information such as passwords, credit card details and bank details in an email. Any potential requests for information or requests for payments will have a paper trail and will be communicated in a professional manner. All the invoices raised by the BVCA will come from our official email address [email protected]. If you receive an unexpected email asking for personal details or for payment from the BVCA, it may be a scam.
6. Trust your instincts.
If you receive an email that looks suspicious, trust your instincts and do not engage with the sender. You can always check whether someone from the BVCA has emailed you by calling +44 (0)207 492 0400.
7. Report if you have suspicions.
If you receive a suspicious email that appears to be from the BVCA, please do not click on any links, do not open any attachments and do not reply to it. Instead, please report this suspected scam by sending the phishing emails as an attachment to [email protected].