Deceptive emails masquerading as communications from the Land Registry

Deceptive emails masquerading as communications from the Land Registry

In today's digital age, it's essential to be vigilant when it comes to email security. This is especially true when dealing with emails that appear to be from trusted sources, such as the Land Registry or your personal email account. Here's a guide on how to identify bogus emails containing computer viruses.

Recognising Suspicious Emails

1. Suspicious sender email addresses: Check carefully for slight misspellings, unusual domains, or random characters in the sender address that don't match the official organization's domain. For example, genuine Land Registry emails end in ".landregistry.gov.uk", not ".landregistry.our website".
2. Urgent or alarming requests for personal or financial information: Phishing emails often pressure you to act quickly or provide sensitive data.
3. Poor grammar, spelling, or formatting errors: Legitimate organizations typically avoid such mistakes in communications.
4. Unexpected or unusual attachments and links: Be cautious of any attachments (such as PDFs, Word docs, ZIP files, or executables) or links—especially if unexpected or from unknown sources—as these may contain viruses or malware.
5. Unfamiliar or suspicious URLs when you hover over links: Fake websites may imitate real ones but have slightly different URLs or recently created domain names.
6. Impersonal greetings or generic salutations instead of your name, which is common in scam emails.
7. Poor-quality branding or logos that do not match the official organization's style.

What to Do if You Receive a Suspicious Email

1. Do not open any attachments or click any links until confirming authenticity.
2. Verify the email’s legitimacy by independently visiting the official Land Registry website through a new browser tab or contacting them directly via known phone numbers or official email addresses (not those in the suspicious email).
3. Report the suspicious email:
4. To the organization it purports to come from (such as the Land Registry).
5. To relevant authorities or cybersecurity bodies (e.g., the Information Commissioner's Office in the UK within 72 hours if a breach is suspected).
6. Delete the email after reporting.
7. Run a full antivirus or anti-malware scan on your computer to ensure no infection has occurred, especially if you accidentally opened attachments or links.
8. Change passwords for affected accounts, and enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) where possible to increase security.

In summary, remain vigilant by carefully inspecting email senders, language, links, and attachments, especially when receiving emails related to official matters like the Land Registry or from your own email account. When in doubt, verify independently and report suspected phishing or virus-laden emails promptly to safeguard your information and devices.

1. Maintaining cybersecurity is crucial in today's digital age, and this includes being aware of potential threats in technology such as other people's attempts to gain access to personal or financial information through phishing emails.
2. To strengthen technology-based security, it is essential to follow guidelines like checking for suspicious sender email addresses, inspecting links and attachments, and verifying the authenticity of emails before opening them or clicking on any links.

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