How to stay safe online

Online criminals are getting smarter all the time. Here are a few key things to look out for.

Social engineering is when a criminal tricks you into trusting them
They’ll start by doing some research about you online, and then they’ll use what they find out to pretend to be someone else.

For example, if they find out you have a Monzo account, they might pretend to work for us and ask you to move money into a ‘safe account’. But remember, we’ll never call you without arranging it with you first, and we’ll never ask you to move money.
If you get a call from someone pretending to be Monzo, hang up straight away and contact us through the Help section in the app. Just to be sure.

Criminals might send convincing emails or texts
When you get an email that claims to be from Monzo, check the email address of the sender. The words after ‘@’ should be ‘@monzoemail.com’, ‘@monzomail.com’ or ‘@monzo.com’.
If you don’t see any of these, the email isn’t from Monzo and you shouldn’t click any links in the email. Remember, unless you have a Monzo Business Account, you can only log into Monzo using the app – so if a website asks you to log in on the web, don’t do it.

They might make convincing looking websites or apps
Criminals might show pop ups on your computer or on the internet, pretending to be Monzo, another bank or even HMRC. We’ll never ask you to confirm your details anywhere outside of the Monzo app. If you ever see a pop up asking you to do this, it isn’t us.

They may even try to hold your computer to ransom
Criminals can install programs that lock your computer. They might ask you for money to unlock it, or ask for your account login details.

Make sure you’ve got antivirus software on your computer and that you never give your account details to anyone. Remember, if someone can log in to your email address, they have a key to your Monzo account – so never give anyone access to your email.