Received questionable text message from .Gov.uk - Is it legit?

SaitenMar

Hi all, so a family member as received an message regarding UK Government living expenses subsidy in 2023-2024 and it asked him to go to a website and log in. It looks like the UK government websites but at one point asked for his financial details and it would send a verification code which never arrived. He asked me to help but it feels dodgy to me but I can't find anything about this on the web despite looking. I need to know if this is legit or a scam?

We've checked his account and everything is fine but moved his money out of it just in case. Any help would be appreciated. 

Brie

Scam.  Someone on our local social media had one saying that they had to log in immediately or miss out on their pending payment.  The text looked pretty good but the urgency is a bit of a giveaway.  

Don't think the UK gov go in for texts at all, more letter in the post types.

SaitenMar

Brie said:

Scam.  Someone on our local social media had one saying that they had to log in immediately or miss out on their pending payment.  The text looked pretty good but the urgency is a bit of a giveaway.  

Don't think the UK gov go in for texts at all, more letter in the post types.

That's what we thought. Getting in touch with his bank now to inform them off this. 

TimeLord1

I had one I posted about it in another thread. I just blocked the number and reported it.  If it doesn't mention you it's suspicious and the link was red flagged.

Grumpy_chap

The .icu domain is a give away.  I See You.
Official correspondence would be gov.uk domain

Robin9

There are lots of scams around - I had a PCN which led to Supreme Court for payment.

Sportyrich2000

I get loads of these such as this and Car Tax etc. You just have to read the hyperlink to know or the address bar once it's been clicked. Total scam from total scum

Emmia

Thing is your message wasn't from gov.uk. It was from govuk.icu

sammyjammy

Poor spelling and grammar can be a good sign too (or a bad one!)

scottleag

govuk instead of gov.uk is one signal but the most obvious of all is "annual living allowance." There's no such thing. As this Which article on the scam points out you're also asked for your obviously American state and zip code.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/annual-living-allowance-text-scam-af5U66B99m3X

Brie

It's the urgency that gets me.  If this is the first you were sent (& it was legit) it wouldn't be urgent.