May 8, 2010 12.25 pm This story is over 165 months old

Police warning over volcanic ash scam email

Watch out: an email scam is passed around asking passengers affected by the volcanic ash to give out their personal details.

Lincolnshire Police are warning over an email scam being passed around right now, which asks passengers who had their travel plans disrupted by volcanic ash to provide their personal details, including passport information, in return for money.

This email scam is pretending to be sent on behalf of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), asking passengers affected by the volcanic ash travel chaos to send in their personal details, like bank account and passport information, in order to receive compensation for the costs incurred over the no-fly period last month.

Lincolnshire Police say that the CAA has not sent these messages, and asks the recipients to delete them immediately. There is a high risk that any personal information received will be misused. There is no CAA fund for compensating passengers affected by the volcanic ash disruption.

The CAA has notified the Office of Fair Trading about these scams for further investigation. The CAA’s advice to passengers affected by volcanic ash disruption remains unchanged. Passengers claiming reimbursement of expenses should contact their airline in the first instance.

Source: Lincolnshire Police | Photo: NASA Goddard