Phishing 101 for the UK
How modern UK phishing works — HMRC, Royal Mail, M&S, fake invoices — and what to do when you (or a colleague) click.
Phishing is still the single most common entry point for UK incidents — both for businesses and for individuals. Modern campaigns are precise, well-written and frequently localised: HMRC tax refunds, Royal Mail delivery fees, fake supplier-bank-detail-change emails.
The most useful skill is not memorising every red flag — it's building a reliable habit of stopping, going to the official site directly, and reporting anything that smells off.
This pillar collects the field guide, the reporting addresses (report@phishing.gov.uk, NCSC SERS, Action Fraud) and the post-click recovery playbook.
Tools that fit this pillar
Free interactive checks you can run right now — no account required.
Domain breach lookup
Find out which known data breaches affected a domain you own.
Why here: If credentials may have been entered, check exposure here first.
MFA setup walkthrough
Step-by-step screen-by-screen guidance to turn on multi-factor authentication for the services that matter most.
Why here: MFA is the single best post-phish mitigation.
Authoritative sources
We point you at the originals — government, regulator and standards bodies. Bookmark these.
- NCSC — Suspicious Email Reporting Service ↗
Forward suspect emails to report@phishing.gov.uk.
- Action Fraud — report phishing ↗
- Take Five — Stop Fraud ↗
Consumer-friendly UK Finance campaign.
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