An urgent warning has been issued as Brits have received text messages about getting the winter fuel payments. Former Pension Minister Steve Webb, now a pensions commentator, warned people not to click on similar links or provide details if they fear it may be unsafe, as he confirmed that such messages are “scams”.
Writing for The Money, Mr Webb responded to a question from a concerned pensioner, reading: “I’ve been in contact with the Department for Work and Pensions about my state pension and am waiting to hear back from them. I got my hopes up this week as I received a text from them but it turned out to be a reminder to claim my winter heating allowance. Can you help?”
It comes as the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) received 15,100 reports of bogus activity in June.
Responding to the question, Mr Webb said: “I was concerned to read you have received a text pretending to be from DWP in connection with ‘claiming’ your winter fuel payment. I can confirm this is a scam and you should not click on links or provide any personal details in response to a message like this.”
Last month, HMRC acted to remove 4,600 fake websites linked to winter fuel payments. The revenue body is urging people to watch out for suspect communications and to report any suspect phone calls, emails or texts via GOV.UK here.
HMRC said it will never send texts asking for personal details or to claim winter fuel payments. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) backed this up last month, around the time it was announced that about nine million pensioners will receive £100 to £300 later this year.
Mr Webb continued: “If you have supplied any personal information by clicking on a link in that text then you will need to be especially careful about any future contacts you might get which could be from the scammers.
“In particular, you should not respond to any further texts you receive and not supply any further personal information or pay any money. You should also keep a close eye on your bank account and contact your bank if there is any suspicious activity.
“The gov.uk website provides information about how you can report scam messages like this and fight back against the scammers: Avoid and report internet scams and phishing. As you will see, in the case of a scam text message you can forward the message you received to 7726, and this will alert the mobile phone company who can help to protect other people from being scammed in future.”