Risks of scam emails from data breaches

The risks of scam emails from data breaches can be considerably high, particularly with how fast exposed information can circulate in the criminal underworld, such as the dark web.

It is not uncommon for people who have been affected by data breaches to receive increased incidents of scam and spam emails. Some of these emails can be attributed to hackers behind cyberattacks, or criminals who have accessed exposed information that could be for sale online.

Anyone who has been affected by a data breach could be entitled to claim compensation now with leading law firm Your Lawyers. We are privacy claims experts, and we may be able to represent you for a claim on No Win, No Fee basis now.

Data breaches and the risks of scam emails

Data breaches and the risks of scam emails can go hand in hand. When information is compromised and it ends up in the wrong hands, criminals could use the information to try to scam people in order to commit fraud and theft. This is why we often say that even a data leak or breach of just personal contact information – such as an email address or a mobile phone number – can be enough for people to fall victim to scams.

The reason is that the criminals can easily contact people and try to pass themselves off as legitimate organisations, perhaps to try to direct people to fake websites. The fake websites that cybercriminals set up can look exactly like the legitimate websites, and they may ask users to input genuine login credentials. Once a visitor to a scam or spoof site has entered their legitimate login credentials, the criminals behind this scam website could use that information to access real accounts.

The criminals may even use the actual data breach itself as part of their disguise when contacting unsuspecting victims.

It is quite common for those who have been affected by a data breach or a cyberattack to report an increase in the amount of scam emails and spam that they receive. This is unsurprising as such scam or spam emails could be coming from the criminals who now have access to the personal details that have been exposed.

A recent event in the news

There was a recent issue over the risks of scam emails that was covered in the media and related to British Airways. Although this issue does not seem to specifically arise from any kind of data breach matter, we are representing victims of the 2018 British Airways cyberattacks. We know that many of our clients reported increasing incidents of spam emails after the breaches.

Scam emails purporting to be from British Airways is a matter that the airline is aware of, and people are being warned to be vigilant. We have issued similar warnings in the weeks, months and even years after 2018 British Airways cyberattacks, as hackers can exploit data events in order to target people with scam emails.

Anybody who has been affected by any form of data breach where their information has been exposed should always be wary that they could be targeted in this kind of way.

Claim data breach compensation

You could be eligible to claim data breach compensation if your personal information has been misused or exposed. This includes where the risks of scam emails has been a problem for you and is a cause of distress that the GDPR could allow you to recover compensation for as part of a legal case.

Please do not hesitate to contact our team here now for free, no-obligation advice and we will be happy to help you.

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