Spam text “winter fuel allowance”

[Argonman]

Just received a fairly convincing text message inviting me to apply for next year’s winter fuel allowance. It stated that a failure to do it today would result in not being able to claim.

A bit of research on the govt website confirmed that if you are in receipt of state pension there is no need to make a claim. If you are eligible you will receive automatically.

So a malicious fraudulent text. No doubt leading me to divulge my bank details. Watch out for it.

Regards. Chris

 

[droopsnoot]

I've had one of these, too, despite not being old enough. First clue is that it comes from a non-UK number. Then you look at the link they provide, it's got "govuk" in it, but not in the domain.

I received it today, but the text says to "complete your application before 18 July 2025". So that's not possible, then.

 

[Wildefalcon]

It annoys me intensely that the powers that be are unable to close down these malicious thieves.

Preying on the elderly and perpetually bewildered is evil.


The text came from somewhere, how difficult can it be to find where, and prosecute the owners of the service that didn't vet their customers properly? If it's an overseas outfit then block that nation from interacting with the UK infrastructure. They'd soon shape up.

 

[Argonman]

Preying on the elderly and perpetually bewildered

Describes me perfectly.

 

[Morris]

I'm gutted. I'm a pensioner and I've not had my spam message. What am I doing wrong?

 

[anto44]

I get spam messages and calls all the time, the most common one for the last while has been about my revolute account, I don't have a revolute account. Unpaid tolls and customs fees for my package are regular aswell.

 

[Robotstar5]

I get spam messages and calls all the time, the most common one for the last while has been about my revolute account, I don't have a revolute account. Unpaid tolls and customs fees for my package are regular aswell.

I've had a lot of calls from my "local energy advisor" recently, the caller display shows area codes 100+ miles away, so how can they be local?.

 

[Wildefalcon]

I've had a lot of calls from my "local energy advisor" recently, the caller display shows area codes 100+ miles away, so how can they be local?.

Local compared to Lagos and Bangalore.

 

[Robotstar5]

Local compared to Lagos and Bangalore.

Haven't had any with Indian accents for quite a while.

 

[Cobbler]

I've had a lot of calls from my "local energy advisor" recently, the caller display shows area codes 100+ miles away, so how can they be local?.

We seem to get several of those a day! They don’t seem to understand p….. off.

 

[RWD3M]

I had a strange one yesterday. The caller was allegedly a garage at least that's what came up on the screen. Now I normally ignore anything that I don't recognise but thinking it might be a genuine misdial and perhaps to save the garage a bit of grief getting hold of a customer, I answered it. Nope, some foriegn girl introducing herself and asking me how I was today and presumably about to try to sell me something/try to steal from me On another day I might well have toyed with them but I was busy.

 

[Morris]

We have just got rid of our landline, the only calls for the last year and a half have been spam.

 

[RWD3M]

We have just got rid of our landline, the only calls for the last year and a half have been spam.

Ditto, about a year ago when we went over to fibre for internet.

 

[droopsnoot]

I've had a lot of calls from my "local energy advisor" recently, the caller display shows area codes 100+ miles away, so how can they be local?.

I get those, about insulation. And it's not a real person. It sounds like one, but as soon as you answer a "yes / no" question with any other than one of those, it hangs up.

 

[badabec]

We're VOIP, and we still get them.
I finally had a "Dear mum" text asking for money. I've arrived!

 

[gaz1]

It annoys me intensely that the powers that be are unable to close down these malicious thieves.

Preying on the elderly and perpetually bewildered is evil.


The text came from somewhere, how difficult can it be to find where, and prosecute the owners of the service that didn't vet their customers properly? If it's an overseas outfit then block that nation from interacting with the UK infrastructure. They'd soon shape up.

they can shut them down even block the number the issue stands whos at fault and who controls the shutting down

so as goes for who can do it well its telecoms they block numbers for fun just with a few taps of the buttons

do they want to do it nope as its money in there pocket so nothing gets done
can they do it with mobile phone oh yes they can faster than what you might think

what i can say is if they can block sites for fun even without a court order as thats whats happening with film series sites then they can do it with the phone system

theres something coming in on the 25th of july adult authentication now that is a total block / censorship and even where they can block sites that wont obey the uk

now ask yourself why they can do all that but when it comes to scam phonecalls they cant do anything about it

as its a total lie from the start and that comes from the telecoms systems that refuse to do anything about it