The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed more than eight million low income households will receive £650 in financial aid to help with mounting costs as the price of energy, food and petrol skyrocket.
The payment will be split into two instalments as eligible claimants will receive £326 between July 14 and July 31 with a further £324 due to land in bank accounts in the autumn. People will receive the first payment automatically over the next two weeks.
However, the DWP has now warned people to look out for scams that may see them tricking into losing money. The government body warn that if you receive a text message or email claiming that you need to apply for the money, it could actually be a scam to steal your information - as M.E.N reports.
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These kinds of messages are commonly known as phishing scams and aim to get as much private information out of you as possible. Phishing scammers aim to steal a wide variety of information, but most commonly they will try to steal your bank details or passwords. A key piece of advice provided by the government is to "not give out private information" and not to "reply to text messages, download attachments or click on any links in emails if you're not sure they're genuine".
Here are some other steps you can take if you believe you're being targeted by a cost of living payment phishing scam:
- Forward any scam emails to report@phishing.gov.uk - the National Cyber Security Centre will investigate it.
- Forward a scam text to 7726 - this will report the message to your mobile phone provider free of charge.
If you have lost any money or have been hacked due to an online scam or fraud, you can contact Action fraud either online (you can do this without an account) or call 0300 123 2040. Some scammers may use emails or phone numbers that look like they belong to official government services, if you're in doubt you can search it on gov.uk.
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