Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

NHS Test and Trace email

82 replies

Lochandthistle · 30/09/2020 09:05

Sorry posting for traffic!

Has anybody else received a scam email from test and trace? Or received a legitimate email that could let me know what it says.

I believe the email i received is a scam but what to be completely sure before I leave the house!

Things that make me think its a scam!

1, Its only asking me to isolate until the 4th of October. I thought Isolation would be for 14 days
2, it was addressed to my maiden name and my last name was spelt wrong.
3, From the government website it states that the proper email will ask you to sign in and give your details. This email gives me a bunch of government website links but doesn’t ask me to do anything like this!

I would appreciate any help. I am pretty anxious and would not want to make anyone ill!

OP posts:
MoonJelly · 30/09/2020 10:21

If it's not the name or address that you gave Test and Trace, and if it's not details you gave to anyone in writing before the app was up and running, it must be a scam.

AdoptAdaptImprove · 30/09/2020 10:31

Please just click on to the email address it came from to see if the T&T email address is a spoof. It’s so common that you should do this with most email you aren’t expecting - it takes a second, literally. Then you’ll know for sure if it’s real.

Orangesox · 30/09/2020 10:39

This won’t be related to App use, as it doesn’t collect any personal details.

Were you in contact with anyone socially on 19th or 20th that might know you by your maiden name and would have your email address and not your phone number? When a positive case is asked about those they’ve been in contact with, they are asked for the phone number and or email address of those they were in contact with during their infectious period....

Original poster
Lochandthistle · 30/09/2020 10:39

It comes up with the same email address when I click on it

OP posts:
Original poster
Lochandthistle · 30/09/2020 10:48

No I honestly haven’t been. I have seen one close friend that weekend and she hasn’t tested positive

OP posts:
xtinak · 30/09/2020 10:55

It's an odd moral dilemma that one can't have details of the positive case they've been in contact with. Obviously this is important to protect privacy, but it also leaves the systems open to abuse and error.

Personally I probably wouldn't isolate off the back of a sketchy email that got my name wrong, especially if there seemed to be no logical explanation for it.

Are there no contact details for queries in the email itself?

Original poster
Lochandthistle · 30/09/2020 11:07

No one to contact. It states on the NHS website that I will be asked to log in and provide my details. This email doesn’t ask that but it does provide information on self isolating with links to appear to be genuine government websites.

OP posts:
xtinak · 30/09/2020 11:13

It does sound so strange.

Given the email address, and the fact that there aren't any phishing links and it's not asking for personal details, it doesn't seem like a scam.

On the other hand, the fact that you can't account for it is odd plus the fact that there is no way for you to contact them, and no request for you to securely supply your contact details to them.

Would be good to hear from someone who is sure they had a genuine email.

xtinak · 30/09/2020 11:16

Here again it says you will be asked to log in: www.gov.uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works#part-2-people-who-have-had-close-contact-with-someone-who-has-coronavirus

Also that you will receive a phone call if they don't hear from you.

JumperTime · 30/09/2020 11:17

They don't email you, they text you and then call you. Sounds like a scam.

Original poster
Lochandthistle · 30/09/2020 11:19

Thanks everyone. I am in two minds, it just seems really odd! I was hoping someone might have had a genuine one to tell me the wording or what it looks like.

OP posts:
xtinak · 30/09/2020 11:19

They may email you. "If you are aged 18 or over, we will contact you by text message or email but will follow up by phone if we don’t get a response"

It's just this email doesn't sound right.

Casschops · 30/09/2020 11:22

I would not be isolating on the back an email.

Northernsoullover · 30/09/2020 11:23

If I was positive and had to name my exposures I would give a mobile number. I wouldn't really know an email.

xtinak · 30/09/2020 11:26

Wait, are you in Scotland?

dementedpixie · 30/09/2020 11:28

We have test and protect in Scotland, not test and trace

Original poster
Lochandthistle · 30/09/2020 11:28

Not in Scotland

OP posts:
Everley · 30/09/2020 11:32

Just to add, the end of my quarantine has been dated as the 4th October which I believe to be incorrect. I know who I have been in contact with and I saw them on the 16th so 14 days quarantine should end today, not the 4th October. The other people we were with have been given different dates. The whole system hasn’t worked for us to be honest.

Winterjoy · 30/09/2020 11:35

Sounds like maybe someone with the same name (as your maiden name) has recorded their similar-to-yours email address incorrectly with the service - they will be getting contact via the app/text whereas the email is coming to you.

I received a long chain of emails over many months from a USA based phone company with updates about 'my' service and then chasing for payment etc because their customer (with the same name as me) had recorded a slightly incorrect email address which had turned out to be mine.

xtinak · 30/09/2020 11:38

Perhaps the explanation is that, like Everley, you should have had a text to go with this email but an error has meant the text did not arrive.

In which case, I think it would be fair enough for you to ignore this until you receive a call, which you would expect to having not responded to the text (which failed to arrive).

bettytaghetti · 30/09/2020 11:47

Could your GP be the source of your data? Do they still have your maiden name there?

AlternativePerspective · 30/09/2020 11:47

Sounds like a fishing scam.

The things that usually differentiate a fishing email from a genuine one are:

In a genuine one they will usually just tell you to go to the relevant website and log in there, while on a fishing one they will provide what looks like a legitimate link except when you log in to that site they will have access to your details.

Wording doesn’t make too much difference. Years ago my paypal account was hacked, and I had an email, it said to go to the website and log in there to deal with it. A few weeks later I had an email saying the same thing but providing a link. It’s only because I’d previously had a legitimate one that I knew it was fake. But the wording was identacle.

Everley · 30/09/2020 11:51

Obviously I don’t know if the OP has been a target of a scam but the email address she has given is exactly the same as the one that I got after I was contacted by text by T&T.

xtinak · 30/09/2020 12:08

If I had to guess, I'd say this isn't spam but it is an error. Perhaps mistaken identity, or someone is mistaken about when they saw you and/or or perhaps they've given your phone nunber incorrectly. However, the result is that you properly been asked or enabled to isolate.

xtinak · 30/09/2020 12:09

result is that you *haven't