Exposing the £400 energy grant scam text

Scammers are looking to entice people into sharing their personal details by sending phoney texts about government energy rebates.

Which? has received a number of reports of consumers getting text messages out of the blue, containing links where they can supposedly apply for the government's £400 Energy Bills Support Scheme. If you receive one of these texts, you can be sure it’s a scam as all energy support payments will be sent automatically.

These texts are examples of phishing scams, and they're becoming more common. The national fraud reporting service Action Fraud revealed on its social media channels that it had received 335 reports of these scam texts. 

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Energy support text scam

These texts tell you that you’ve been identified as being eligible for the government's Energy Bills Support Scheme. They invite you to click on a link to claim your payment.

The websites detailed in these texts were all created recently, before being swiftly taken down and replaced by new pages. In our video, reporter Lucia Ariano visits one of the websites that was still live at the time of filming and finds that it looks strikingly similar to the government's website.

The fraudulent site invites you to click on a link titled ‘Start Now’, which takes you to a page asking you to select your energy provider. This then leads to an another page where you are asked to enter your bank details. 

Avoid and report this energy scam

Any unexpected text messages should always be treated with caution, and you shouldn't click on any links in an unsolicited text message.

You can report suspicious texts by forwarding them to 7726. This reports the message to your mobile phone provider. You can report dodgy websites by entering their URLs into the NCSC’s website.

If you have been scammed, get in touch with your bank straight away and file a report with Action Fraud. Be vigilant to scams by reading about the typical signs that reveal a potential scam.