Virgin Media O2, the owner of the UK’s nationwide O2 mobile network, is the last of the country’s telecoms providers to be turning off its old 3G network. EE, Three and Vodafone have already turned off 3G with a view to improving 4G and 5G network coverage across Britain.

The closure of 3G services should not affect the majority of O2 customers given the proliferation of modern smartphones, as most of which bought within the last 10 years will very likely have 4G.

But this week Virgin Media O2 is warning its customers to be extra vigilant this week, as it says scammers are trying to take advantage of people by sending emails pretending to be the firm, informing them they need to upgrade their SIM card.

If you’re an O2 customer, it’s worth keeping a close eye on your email inbox, as the email Virgin Media O2 has shared is very convincing. It uses official-looking logos, with the subject line “Alert: Switch to Your New 5G SIM for a Faster, Stronger Network”.

“We’ve been made aware of phishing emails circulating that contain the content shown below,” Virgin Media said in a post on its online community pages.

“Please note that these emails were NOT sent by Virgin Media O2 and should NOT be responded to. Do not click on any links or reply to these messages. Instead, we recommend deleting them immediately.”

The firm also said that if you receive this email, you can choose to report it by forwarding it to phishing@virginmediao2.co.uk.

The email sent out by scammers is attempting something known as phishing, where hackers and criminals pretend to be trusted entities but are in fact attempting to trick you into handing over sensitive personal information so they can defraud you in some way.

In this case, it appears that the scammers are going so far as to send you a SIM card via courier delivery and asking you to access it with a four digit PIN.

It also instructs recipients to login to the O2 app with a provided password, and there is a blue button to click on that says ‘Contact Us’, which might put you in touch with the criminals, who could then attempt to trick you into handing over information.

This could eventually grant them access to your private account, or give them enough information to log in to your O2 or other personal accounts, leading to identity theft. It depends what information a person is tricked into handing over, but suffice to say these scams can cause serious headaches for victims.

If you’re ever unsure if an email from a service provider is genuine, then it’s best to ignore it and either contact the firm’s official customer service through an official channel or get a second opinion from a trusted friend or family member.