New scammers warning over fake emergency car kit email

The AA is warning customers about a phishing email which claims drivers have won an emergency car kit.

The breakdown and recovery company says that a small number of fake emails were sent out last week, but these have continued this week.

The AA has taken a number of steps to safeguard their customers, all consumers and worked with the police to raise awareness of the scam.

For example, it has introduced so called Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI), so that consumers seeing adverts through their email account know a real advert from a fake one.

The AA’s own IT security team regularly reports fake websites which pretend to be the real thing and provides advice to consumers on how to keep their data safe online. 

Darren Desmond, the AA’s chief information security officer, said: “The saying goes ‘imitation is the sincerest form of flattery’, but in this case it’s an awful impression.

“Our job is to help keep your show on the road, which is why we want to spread the message and help customers spot this shocking scam.

“We continue to invest in the best security systems to safeguard our customers and their data, which is why most emails pretending to be from us will end up in your spam folder. Emails from us will have the domain name ‘theaa.com’.”

Example of the AA fake email

Desmond continued: “We urge people to report every scam email they receive, but if they accidently open one then running antivirus software on their device, patching operating systems and applications, and Using Multi Factor Authentication (or MFA as it’s widely known), typically through an app, are great ways to reduce the risk.

“If personal or financial details have been compromised, then people should contact the police or report via the Action Fraud Police website.”

The AA scam email warning comes after motorists have targeted with fake text messages. Fleets and their drivers are being warned by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) that scammers are sending text messages about fake parking penalty charges.

DVSA says that the text message warns people that they have a ‘parking penalty charge’, and that if they do not pay on time, that they might be banned from driving, have to pay more and be taken to court.