A new cost of living fraud has emerged, prompting the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to issue a warning.
The scam involves text messages sent to mobile devices that claim the recipient is entitled to a £750 “Living Payment”.
Although there is government cost of living support available, this scam is not connected to these.
After that, the message requests that recipients “take action” by clicking the associated link to receive the payment. The website behind the link has no affiliation with the DWP so doing so would certainly expose people to scammers.
The website provided in the text message is likely to ask you for personal information such as name, address and bank details. If you share these, the fraudsters will probably use the information for further scams against you and they could even steal money.
The full text message read: “GOV: The £750.00 (GBP) Living Payment is ready, take action by accepting the payment via legalaid.income-division.com”.
Anyone who receives a questionable message is advised to transmit it to 7726, which will report it to your mobile operator for free. The DWP has said it will never email or text people seeking personal information.
Contact your bank right away if you suspect a scammer has access to your banking information, which you can do on the 159 hotline.
Passwords that have been compromised or disclosed need to be changed right away.
Don't forget to contact Action Fraud by phone at 0300 123 2040 or online at the Action Fraud website to report scams and fraud.
Send fraudulent emails to report@phishing.gov.uk, and free scam text texts can be forwarded to 7726.
Hang up the phone right away and look up the company's contact information online if you think you're being phoned by a scammer.
Never return a call to the number that the caller gave you.
