Email scam warning – emails from British Airways

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Charles-P
    Participant

    This morning I received an email which at first look seemed to be from British Airways. It stated there was a problem with my booking and I should click on the British Airways link at the bottom of the page to, “update my details”. My suspicions were raised because it was sent to my private email (I use my company email for flight bookings) and there was a spelling mistake with my name.

    Sure enough this was a ‘phishing’ attempt to obtain my credit card details.

    Be warned everyone.

    Charles.


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Quite right – here is the BA release on this

    https://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_gb?p_faqid=4290

    A number of fake and fraudulent emails are in circulation claiming to be from British Airways, as well as new scams being operated by phone call, voice mail or text messages.
    These are generated in bulk to huge distribution lists that have been put together or even computer-generated, but these have not been sent as a result of a compromise of our systems.

    Here are the incidents of fraudulent emails and phishing scams that we’re aware of:

    Spring-Summer 2015: British Airways does not have a trading relationship or affiliation with the website/company called “The Big Rentals”. If you receive an email or phone call saying we do and possibly containing links directly to ba.com, this is not legitimate.

    December 2014: An email is being sent with the Subject line reading “BA e-ticket receipt 8NTGVI: JFK-LGW 17 Dec 2014 19:20”. This email itself says “Thanks for the purchase!” and then has a message “Your credit card has been charged for $691.62.”. This booking does not exist and you have not been charged by British Airways.

    November 2014: 1) Our colleagues in India have advised that they have been made aware of fraudulent recruitment cases, where prospective candidates have been asked to pay to apply for or accept a job at British Airways.British Airways does not ask you to pay to have an interview, or to accept a role within the company. If you have been asked to make a payment for either an interview or to confirm a role, this is not a legitimate job offer from British Airways. 2) Any customers that receive an email from either Stemologica or Beautemer companies, that include mention of British Airways, are advised not to reply to the email or send any details – please forward a copy to our ‘phishing’ email address listed below.

    August 2014: A text message is being sent randomly from a number “447553246807” saying “Your Delayed flight has now been allocated funds, £487.23 per passenger has been awarded, it’s yours in your name waiting, for us to send it ASAP reply DELAY”. We would recommend that you do not reply or share any personal information with these people. British Airways is not distributing these messages.

    July 2014: People are receiving phone calls (or voicemails messages) offering a large discount off the cost of a British Airways booking (flight-only or holidays) because the person is “a valued customer”. We would advise people not to give any personal information or return calls to a number that is left.

    August (and April) 2014: An email is being sent with the Subject line reading “BA e-ticket receipt 8NTGVI: JFK-LGW 17 Aug 2014 19:20”. This email itself says “Thanks for the purchase!” and then has a message “Your credit card has been charged for $691.62.”. This booking does not exist and you have not been charged by British Airways.

    Other emails with a subject line “BA e-ticket receipt”, “eticket receipt”, or mentioning a fictitious booking reference such as 2IWSWO, F7829L, 1TKG86, 28HYW0, ZVBN70, or 5KJTJ2. The email will also say that you have been charged an amount such as USD391.62, “326.60 (GBP)”, USD891.62 or USD438.60 – we will not have taken any money.

    May 2014: A new email type is being sent with the Subject line of “Your flight ticket is not activated yet.”. The main body of the email contains two references to a ticket that doesn’t exist: #877764-6192359-BA-90050320142. British Airways emails are not sent in this format, these references do not exist and you have not been charged any money. We recommend you don’t click on any links or open any attachments within the email.

    October 2013: Currently spam emails are being sent out with subject line “BA e-ticket receipt”, using the British Airways logo and claiming to be an e-ticket receipt without giving an itinerary – they also have an attachment, which we would never use to send e-ticket receipt information. These emails may be sent from email addresses looking like they are from British Airways, Amazon or UPS. If you are in doubt about whether you have received one of these, please try viewing the booking on ba.com: http://www.britishairways.com/travel/managebooking – nothing will be visible if the reference is fake.

    We are also aware of these commonly sent phishing/fraud email types:
    – those that have a subject line like “it’s time to check-in online” and inviting you to click a link to check in for a fictitious upcoming flight.
    – emails sent from anyone saying they work for British Airways who uses an email address that ends: “…[email protected]
    – scam emails have being sent out with a subject line similar to “Your Order #83019291 / 27 feb 2014” (the order number and date may change, as versions were also sent out 24, 25 and 26 February 2014). British Airways emails are not sent out with “Your Order #” in the subject line, we do not use the email address “<a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]“, and the booking references used do not exist.
    – ask you to activate your British Airways ticket by clicking on a link is not legitimate – we never send emails like this. It will have a Subject line that starts with “Your flight ticket number: #”.
    – have a subject line like “your order is processed” and inviting you to print off an attached ticket for a fictitious booking.
    – ask you to pay a BTA tax (“Basic Travel Allowance”), TFA (“Travelling Fees Allowance”), or similar, to enable your friend to travel.
    – contain unsolicited offers of employment with British Airways requiring you to purchase a visa.
    – are allegedly from British Airways World Cargo, advising you of a parcel awaiting collection and requesting your bank details or additional payments via Western Union.
    – congratulate you on winning a cash prize in a competition you haven’t entered. We never offer cash prizes, so emails claiming to be from our chief executive or a team such as British Airways Heritage Collection offering you a large prize are not from us.
    – Offer tickets to sporting or music events claiming to come from a member of British Airways cabin crew.

    If you receive any emails that match these descriptions do not click on any links, reply to them, send any money or open/download any attachments.

    These emails are NOT from British Airways and the claims made about British Airways within them are false. They are unscrupulous attempts to secure your personal information or extort money from you.

    Legitimate emails from British Airways will contain your booking reference and the email will not have been sent from a web-based mail server such as gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc. In addition, we will never request money payments through a third party or promise you any kind of cash prize.
    If you have any doubts about the email you have received, do not click on any links or download any files.

    Please forward suspected email scams to: <a href="mailto:[email protected]“>[email protected]
    We will investigate its authenticity and take appropriate action. (Please note that we cannot enter into correspondence over emails sent to this address, therefore you will not receive a reply.)

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