Winter Fuel Payment , possible scam

diveunderthebonnet

I hope this is in the correct section ,yesterday i got a phone message from DWP telling me we had not claimed for the 24/25 winter heating allowance.
It asked me to click on a link which took me to the GOV.UK website ( it looked official ) where it asked for name, address etc BUT then said i had to pay £1 via a credit card/Debit card to proceed ,the £1 would be refunded.
Now whilst both my wife and myself are pensioners and MAY be entitled to the payment i cannot remember ever being asked topay a fee too GOV.UK and as it will be via a card it smell of a scam.
Anybody else had this or is it a scam ( i have not paid the money )
thanks for any help/info.

MeteredOut

I'd say almost certainly a scam. Are you sure it was a gov.uk website, or did it just have something like gov-uk in the url?

Scam sites do look official - they basically clone pages from the official site.

Devongardener

Definite scam!

diveunderthebonnet

MeteredOut said:

I'd say almost certainly a scam. Are you sure it was a gov.uk website, or did it just have something like gov-uk in the url?

Scam sites do look official - they basically clone pages from the official site.

Yes it looked the GOV.UK official site i have used with tax rebates etc BUT having to input card details makes me very very suspicious ,will not proceed.

born_again

diveunderthebonnet said:

I hope this is in the correct section ,yesterday i got a phone message from DWP telling me we had not claimed for the 24/25 winter heating allowance.
It asked me to click on a link which took me to the GOV.UK website ( it looked official ) where it asked for name, address etc BUT then said i had to pay £1 via a credit card/Debit card to proceed ,the £1 would be refunded.
Now whilst both my wife and myself are pensioners and MAY be entitled to the payment i cannot remember ever being asked topay a fee too GOV.UK and as it will be via a card it smell of a scam.
Anybody else had this or is it a scam ( i have not paid the money )
thanks for any help/info.

Got a link to the site?

It's easy to make a site look official. URL will be the giveaway.

diveunderthebonnet

born_again said:

diveunderthebonnet said:

I hope this is in the correct section ,yesterday i got a phone message from DWP telling me we had not claimed for the 24/25 winter heating allowance.
It asked me to click on a link which took me to the GOV.UK website ( it looked official ) where it asked for name, address etc BUT then said i had to pay £1 via a credit card/Debit card to proceed ,the £1 would be refunded.
Now whilst both my wife and myself are pensioners and MAY be entitled to the payment i cannot remember ever being asked topay a fee too GOV.UK and as it will be via a card it smell of a scam.
Anybody else had this or is it a scam ( i have not paid the money )
thanks for any help/info.

Got a link to the site?

It's easy to make a site look official. URL will be the giveaway.

Sorry i have deleted it now ,how do you check the URL ? i am of an age where some tech is beyond me.

flaneurs_lobster

Just stop. Of course it's a scam. The DWP needs your name, address, debit card details?  Did you give them your mother's maiden name too? DoB?

soolin

Sorry but an obvious scam , think carefully, did you give them any info at all ? 

soolin

Sorry but an obvious scam , think carefully, did you give them any info at all ? 

Murphybear

The winter fuel payment is paid automatically, you not have to claim it.  Following is from the government website

“ The Winter Fuel Payment for 2025 to 2026 will be made to everyone in England and Wales born before 22 September 1959, unless you choose not to get it. You could get either £200 or £300 to help you pay your heating bills for winter.

You do not need to do anything - payments will be made automatically.”

Robbie64

When you say a phone message, do you mean a text message? if so, this scam has been doing the rounds for quite some time. The DWP are aware of it and if I recall, there were articles in the media about this a few months ago.

Definitely do not give any personal details.

Edit to add: I now remember I got a text about this a few months ago and I'm not pension age. Plus the name used "Winter heating allowance" is a massive warning. I'm sure my text also used this term, and not Winter Fuel Allowance.