DBS account locked out

[ladymuck]

It's been about 3 or 4 years since I last had to get a DBS certificate so I was surprised this morning to receive an email from the service to say my account has been locked out for 24h. It's a plain text email without any urges "to click here to reset your password", just gives a phone number that is the correct helpline number. The oddity is that it had a placeholder for a inserting the recipient's name but it just starts "Dear ,"

I can think of two scenarios - someone was trying to hack my account or there's been a wider issue at the DBS, either internal error or a concerted effort to bring the service down.

Anyone else had the same email today?

[BigDataPro]

Another scenario could be that the system of one of your clients, who requested DBS check has been compromised.

[gixxer2021]

The “Dear” blank instead of your name shouts phishing to me, but with no link seems a bit pointless! I’d run an Experian check just to be sure and maybe call their helpline which appears to be open today (from the gov.uk website). Does the email number match this one btw?

DBS customer services


Telephone: 0300 0200 190
Minicom: 0300 0200 192
International: +44 (0)151 676 9390
Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm (except public holidays)
Saturday, 10am to 5pm

[ladymuck]

Yes the phone number checks out. That was the first thing I looked at. The mail headers look ok too.

Going to the DBS login page, my account is indeed locked.

[ladymuck]

Hmm... So today I try to acces my account and get a lot of time out errors. I assume it's flaky with a mobile so I try on my laptop.

After logging in, I get "sorry the request could not be completed. Our technical team have been notified and will look into the issue".

Something tells me there's been a hiccup at the DBS...

[TheDude]

It's been about 3 or 4 years since I last had to get a DBS certificate so I was surprised this morning to receive an email from the service to say my account has been locked out for 24h. It's a plain text email without any urges "to click here to reset your password", just gives a phone number that is the correct helpline number. The oddity is that it had a placeholder for a inserting the recipient's name but it just starts "Dear ,"

I can think of two scenarios - someone was trying to hack my account or there's been a wider issue at the DBS, either internal error or a concerted effort to bring the service down.

Anyone else had the same email today?

That happened to me and when I regained access it turned out I had incorrectly been listed as a war criminal.