Overview
- Fraudulent messages posing as an 'important legal notification' or 'Winter Fuel Payment Reminder' are being sent to thousands of phones with urgent application deadlines.
- The texts include links to convincing government-lookalike sites, including examples such as gov.winter-subv.com/dwp, to harvest personal and financial details.
- The Department for Work and Pensions says it is working with Action Fraud and charities to raise awareness and support people who seek advice.
- Officials advise recipients not to click links or share information, to forward suspicious texts to 7726, and to delete the messages immediately.
- Legitimate Winter Fuel Payments of £100 to £300 are issued automatically to people born before 22 September 1959, with letters arriving in October or November and payments due from mid-November to December 2025.