HALTON residents are being warned to be on their guard after a resident received an email inviting him to log into his Natwest bank account to view his statement.

Halton Trading Standards say it is a fraudulent scam to trick people into providing personal security information.

A spokesman for Halton Trading Standards said: “The email looks quite convincing because it says that they will never ask you for your password or pin and it contains a disclaimer and legal information, at the end of the message.

“The legal information warns consumers about scam emails. This is itself a scam, do not log in.

“If you click on the link you will be taken to the scammers' website and by logging in you will provide the scammer with your personal information.

“If you receive an email purportedly from an official organisation which contains links, hover the mouse over the link and you will see the address that the link is taking you to.

“Hover over the links in this phishing email and you will see that neither will take you to Natwest’s website.”

Most banks have a feature on their website which allows you to forward phishing e-mails to them.

You can also report scams to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or visit its website actionfraud.police.uk/report_fraud.