Protecting yourself from scams
Watch out for scammers pretending to be us
It’s important to remember that scammers can pretend to be from L&Q or companies working on our behalf. This means you might receive letter, emails and texts that look like they are from us but aren’t.
If something doesn’t feel right, or if you are being asked to hand over personal information, stop and think. Scammers can try to make a situation feel urgent or important to pressure you into making decisions quickly.
If you aren’t sure if someone is genuine, contact us through our website or call our customer service centre to check if it’s really us.
Examples of scam messages and phone calls
Scammers could send you links to fraudulent and malicious websites designed to steal your personal information, known as ‘phishing’.
They might claim:
- you’re owed money and they need your private information to prove this
- they need your bank details or other personal information to make a payment
- they need information from you to carry out urgent, unplanned work to your home.
If anyone asks you these questions, please hang up the phone, don’t click on the links in any emails they have sent and don’t give them your details.
If someone you are not expecting visits you and claims they need to carry out work, please don’t let them in without contacting us first.
How to avoid scams
- Always check email addresses and telephone numbers – if you think they may be fake then don’t answer them
- Check web links before clicking on them - our main websites are lqgroup.org.uk and lqhomes.com
- Look at the spelling and branding in any emails or letters – if there are mistakes, poor grammar or the logos don’t look right, it may be a scam
Even if something looks professional, it could still be from a scammer. If you are ever unsure about something, contact us through our official channels to check
How we’re keeping you safe
We’re committed to keeping your all your communications with us safe. We report any scams to the police and have processes to protect you.
We will never ask for specific information like payment card details, login information, or other personal details via email.
We will only contact you from an email address that ends in:
- @lqgroup.org.uk
- @lq-living.co.uk
- @barkingriversideltd.org
We’ll never ask you to provide your email together with your password unless you’re signing into your L&Q account online.
If we need to take payments, we will only do so by phone once you have passed our security checks or through our secure portal accessed via our main website.
Website
Our main websites are lqgroup.org.uk and lqhomes.com.
Your online account is protected by two-factor authentication, requiring a unique code in addition to your email and password when logging in.
Social media
You can use our official social media pages as an alternative way to ask questions or raise issues, but please do not share personal or sensitive information in public posts.
These are the only official pages our team will use to communicate with you on social media:
Shared ownership and sales:
If you are messaged by a person or page different to the ones above, it isn’t us, and you should let us know immediately to stop yourself and other people from being scammed.
Remember, the only L&Q employees who use our social media accounts to support residents are the Customer Service team, and they only do this through our official account.
Extra help and support
If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from L&Q or our partners but you have any doubts, please go to our official website www.lqgroup.org.uk and use the information there to contact us directly.
You can learn more about protecting yourself from online scams from The Cyber Helpline, National Cyber Security Centre and Action Fraud.