Enel customer scam, beware of phishing emails

A new cyber scam is trying to steal Enel users' information and credit card data, here's how to recognize malicious emails

A new cyber threat is putting the information security of Italian users at risk. Many people are in fact being contacted by fake Enel emails generated by a group of cyber criminals in order to scam the users of the energy service.

The aim of the hackers, as it often happens in these phishing attempts, is to deceive the users in order to make them enter in a compromised website confidential data such as their credit card number. In the specific case of the new scam the e-mail messages pretend to be communications from Enel Energia regarding a false reimbursement for customers. The user is sent to enter their data and account number to receive the refund by clicking on a link attached to the email message. Obviously if the user trusts and enters his personal information the cyber criminal does not issue any refund but uses the stolen data for his own illegal purposes on the Net.

How to defend ourselves from fake Enel emails and save our money

Defending ourselves from online scams like this one from Enel is quite simple. The first step to take is to never trust the communications that come to us via email and especially we should never click on links attached to email messages. Let's remember that Enel in case of refunds, back payments or other confidential and important communications notifies us only and exclusively with registered mail. If we have any doubts about an email from an electricity service, but also about the various subscription services that we have at home, before clicking on the attached link we always try to contact customer care to know if it is a reliable communication or not.

In this case, for example, neither the Enel Group nor companies appointed by the company have sent emails informing customers of a credit to be collected for their supply and inviting them to connect to links in the email itself. In practice have been cyber criminals, taking advantage of the lack of attention of users sometimes on the Internet, to disguise themselves as Enel to hope that someone would enter their data in the phishing link included in the email. Enel for its part has already informed the competent authorities and requested the closure of malicious sites that try to cheat users of the national electricity service.