DWP Research(?) or scam????

dogladyg

I’m not sure if it’s ok to post this here or not, so if not please feel free to delete - I am posting this obo my 77yo mother who is on Pension Credit. 

Is anyone here aware of genuine research being undertaken by the DWP?

My mother received a telephone call on her home landline number from a number showing up as 0203 807 1442 (I think I saw somewhere that scammers can change the number that shows up when they call?? - but having Google’d this number there are several people saying “it’s a scam”, but not mentioning if they’ve confirmed this etc) & a woman gave her name as Marian E****** from DWP & said that they wanted my mother to take part in research….
Now as much as I’ve told my Mum not to speak to anyone about anything with such calls, the fact the woman was saying she was from the DWP made my Mum more inclined to speak to her (& we still don’t know for sure if this was genuine or not etc)…. Unfortunately I was having a rest at the time and hadn’t heard the phone. 
Mum has called the DWP today & spoken to the Enquiries section(?), and they say there isn’t any such thing, but I did notice that on the govt website that there was mention of a ‘Customer Experience survey’ research done the previous year(?). The woman refused to put anything in writing or email it & has said she will be calling back Saturday 3pm.

So Martin Lewis & Friends, can you tell me if this is genuine, a scam or if you’ve ever heard of it etc, etc, etc….

Thanks in advance! 👍🏻 

Carry on & keep up the good work….. 😏

Brie

Very hard to say if it's real or not.

Any reason you can't be there at 3 on Saturday when the return call happens?  Get mom to put it on speaker phone so you can hear and judge what's going on??  

I did have a nice long research call with someone from HMRC about how a pensions forecast and tax is displayed on their websites.  Got £60 reward for doing so.  They were quite happy to send me info up front by email.

M25

Assume it's a scam and block calls that aren't white-listed.

If it's important the police will chap your door or you'll receive a letter.

Don't speak to strangers.

sammyjammy

The person you rang saying there is no such research means nothing, they will have on idea what's happening in other parts of DWP but its not something I've heard of happening either (DWP staff) so proceed with caution, If it was a scam it seems unlikely they would arrange a call back for a few days time.

Muttleythefrog

Likely scam but hard to tell. As above... asking regular staff at DWP if there is any such research is not going to be fruitful as they probably would never know. Hopefully you can be there for the call back... if they're genuine they should have no problem proving they have access to her records and things like Nino.. and I suspect they'll not engage in such indicating scam or a waste of time.

Bigwheels1111

I remember when letters were sent out telling claimants that they needed to switch to bank payments and not post office.
Scam or not, forums said scam, Google said scam and so did hmrc.
Turns out it was genuine, but the left hand did not know what the right was doing.

Just treat any call as a scam and move on. Job done.

Muttleythefrog

Bigwheels1111 said:

I remember when letters were sent out telling claimants that they needed to switch to bank payments and not post office.
Scam or not, forums said scam, Google said scam and so did hmrc.
Turns out it was genuine, but the left hand did not know what the right was doing.

Just treat any call as a scam and move on. Job done.

lol... yep.. seen some classics from the Home Office regarding Visa applications.
All featured ALL of the below each time I saw cases:
Unexpected email from somewhat unexpected claimed source - scam
Demands for money - scam
No explanation of what the money is for - scam
Payment required through a third party - scam
Pressure of time applied to make the payment - scam
Personal information of recipient lacking - scam
Personal information of recipient incorrect - scam
English used is very poor or incorrect strongly implying not of UK source - scam
No contact details given to query the email - scam

...and of course with all these flags even immigration solicitors typically advised it was a scam..and.in all cases email was legitimate to applicant of Indefinite leave to remain.... requesting, though not stating so, Immigration Health Surcharge payments because the visa applied for was not requiring of such payment but the Visa was going to be rejected as criteria not met and so leave to remain visa application was instead automatically considered where the IHS payment would be required. Failure to make the timely payment - loss of legal immigration status in the UK. The clue was in the amount requested.