Staying safe online

How to keep your personal information safe by avoiding scams and phishing attacks.

Changing how we contact you about your energy supply

If you have a home or small business supply account with us, you'll now be receiving emails from E.ON Next, you can view all the information about  E.ON Next communications and keeping you safe online here. 

What is phishing?

Phishing is a method used by scammers, using fake emails or web links which look trustworthy and familiar, to gain access to sensitive information such as passwords and bank details or to infect your device with malware.

Phishing emails are a very common type of cyber attack and because they’re made to look like they’re from an official source, they’re easy to fall victim of.

They could be from a business you're a customer of - your gas and electricity supplier, for example - asking you to manage your account or pay a bill. 

On this page we'll tell you how to spot if an email really is from us, and give you an example of a phishing email.

How do you know an email's from us?

Are you worried that an email looks suspicious? You’d be right to be cautious. Everyday, millions of us receive emails that look familiar, but are in fact ‘phishing’ attempts.

At E.ON Energy, we’ll never ask you for personal information, like passwords, payment details or your address. So be safe with your details, and keep one step ahead with these tips.

Email safety tips

Below we've listed four things you can check if you've received an email claiming to be from us. 

1. Check the sender's address

The senders email address may look trustworthy at first, but the name after the ‘@’ (the domain) can give you a clue as to whether it's bogus. For example if the email is sent from: @eonHelpDeskUK.com, this is likely a malicious phishing attempt, as we’d only send emails from @eonenergy.com.

2. Is the greeting personal?

A genuine email will address you by your full name, and not a generic term like ‘sir’, ‘madam’, or  ‘loyal customer’.

3. Be cautious

If you’re using a mouse, hover over any links you’re unsure of before clicking on them, just to see if the link address looks genuine. If you’re unsure, go to the website directly instead of using the link in the email.

4. How does it look?

Check the grammar, tone and design of any emails which you receive. Look out for inconsistent fonts, unusual characters and punctuation.

example of a phishing email
example of a phishing email

Example of a phishing email

We've provided an example of a malicious phishing email which could be sent to customers, using a refund on a gas and electricity account as bait. 

Immediately, there's a few things which should raise concern:

  • The email address it's been sent from
  • Does the account reference number match yours?
  • Hovering over the link with a mouse would show the link isn't to a www.eonenergy.com page
  • The formatting of the email isn't the same throughout. 

Handy tip:

If an email has been sent to your junk or spam it's likely your email provider has flagged it as being a potential phishing attack. 

Online safety tips

Look for the 's'

If you’re asked to enter personal details, check that the website’s address starts with ‘https’. The ‘s’ stands for ‘secure’ but doesn’t guarantee the site is genuine.

Don’t always assume

A sender isn't always who they say they are. Fraudsters can make email addresses appear genuine, even from someone you know.

Don't be so quick to click

Try not to click on any links, or open attachments from senders you're not sure of.

Have a strong password

Use a mixture of numbers and both upper and lower case letters. Your emails are the most vulnerable to hackers, so keep them safe.

Still concerned about phishing attacks?

Learning to spot the signs and reporting potential phishing scams are the prevention to people being caught out and being conned out of their sensitive information..

To find out more about cyber security, phishing attacks, malware, and online safety, read more at the government's Cyber Aware webpage.

Visit Cyberaware

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