Overview

• Action Fraud logged 64 DWP-related scam reports in Merseyside between June 2024 and July 2025, with half of them occurring in June and July 2025 alone.
• Perpetrators impersonate the Department for Work and Pensions via texts, calls, emails and cloned websites, citing urgent Winter Fuel Payment issues to dupe recipients.
• The DWP stresses it never requests bank details by text or email and says eligible claimants receive automatic payments and an official letter in autumn.
• Scam warnings include unexpected links, fake deadlines and spoofed numbers designed to pressure vulnerable pensioners into sharing personal or financial data.
• Authorities advise forwarding suspicious messages to 7726, reporting incidents to Action Fraud and using official DWP channels for genuine enquiries.