Security News > 2021 > April > Criminals send out fake “census form” reminder – don’t fall for it!
The census happens in any year ending in the digit -1, making 2021 a census year.
If you're amongst those who haven't finished off their census submissions yet, but who keep meaning to get around to it, make sure you don't fall prey to fake "Census reminder" notices sent out by cybercriminals!
That's because cybercrooks are taking advantage of the fact that the census is online by trying to phish you out of data that you wouldn't hand over otherwise.
Instead of a 16-character code, the fake form asks for your postcode instead. As you can imagine, the questions that the crooks ask you if you do put in a postcode look just like real census questions, on a site that looks much like the real deal.
Watch out for domain names where the left hand end looks legitimate, but the right-hand end says that it belongs to someone else, as in a name like census.
The Census 2021 website is well-known and easy to find through reliable sources, including printed on the Census snail-mail you ought to have received.