Phishing and Social Engineering Awareness Guide

A plain-English staff guide to spotting and stopping scams – from fake invoices and bank detail fraud to deepfake calls and QR code phishing – with a 10-question quiz.

Editable Word document
15
10pages
Guidance notes included
aml consultancy solutions

IT & cyber security

Phishing and Social Engineering Awareness Guide

About this document

What it’s for

A staff awareness guide explaining how criminals trick people into giving away money, passwords and data, how to spot the signs, and exactly what to do. It includes a mandatory bank detail change procedure and verification form, reporting routes, a 10-question quiz with answers, and a training record.

When to use it

  • As part of every new starter’s induction
  • For annual refresher training, or after a scam attempt on your business
  • To support your Email and Internet Use Policy and Cyber Essentials work

What’s inside

The document is laid out in the sections below. Each one comes with a plain-English guidance note explaining what it does and what to change.

  • 1. Why this matters
  • 2. The golden rules
  • 3. How to spot a scam
  • Checking a link safely
  • 4. Common types of attack
  • 4.1 Email phishing and spear phishing
  • 4.2 Business email compromise and CEO fraud
  • 4.3 Invoice and bank detail change fraud (mandate fraud)
  • 4.4 Text messages and messaging apps (smishing)
  • 4.5 Phone scams (vishing) and fake IT support
  • 4.6 Deepfake voice and video calls
  • 4.7 QR code phishing (quishing)
  • 4.8 MFA fatigue and login approval scams
  • 4.9 Social media, LinkedIn and fake recruiters
  • 4.10 In-person tricks
  • If you receive something suspicious
  • If you think you have been caught out
  • External reporting routes

How to complete it

  • Fill in your contact details, reporting button and payment approval limits
  • Adapt the bank detail change procedure in Section 5 to your finance process
  • Remove the answer sheet before staff take the quiz
  • Record completion in the training record and repeat yearly

Key points to check

  • Check current reporting routes (Report Fraud, NCSC) before you issue it
  • Make sure your bank detail change procedure is actually followed in practice

Our templates are professionally structured starting points for UK businesses, not legal advice. For anything complex, unusual or high-value, have your final version checked by a solicitor.

Included in the pack

IT & cyber security

£20

for every document in this category

Editable Microsoft Word files

Guidance notes in every document

Written for UK businesses

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