Be aware of Scammers taking advantage of the cost of living crisis

Fraudsters are quick to take advantage of current events. As people look to reduce their outgoings and access support, there are fraudsters out there waiting to pounce.

Cost of living scams that have already been seen, include:

• Fake energy bill rebate emails and texts claiming to be from major energy providers,
• Scam texts, emails and phone calls asking recipients to apply for cost-of-living payments,
• Fraudsters calling residents and impersonating local councils asking for bank details to “organise a reduction in council tax”
• Fake supermarket and petrol vouchers being posted on social media and sent via email.

Many of the scams that were popular during the pandemic are likely to be recycled. Since 2020, fraudsters have impersonated major retailers, service providers and even the central government claiming that grants, discounts, or refunds are available due to Covid-19. To access the support, you are asked to share your personal and/or financial information.  Fraudsters can easily change the wording of their old scams to mention the Cost of Living instead.

Some top tips for avoiding Cost of Living scams include:

• Be suspicious of offers that appear to be “too good to be true” – it may be a scam.
• If you are contacted about a refund, rebate, discount or grant please be extremely cautious.
• To check if an email, text, or phone call is genuine please make contact with the organisation using an official customer service route.
• Never rely on the contact details given to you within the message – use Google to find the correct contact route and use that instead.
• If you receive a suspicious phone call, hang up and either wait for 30 minutes or use a different phone to contact the company using a safe contact route. Fraudsters can jam your phone line and although you think you’ve hung up, when you try to make a new call, you are reconnected to the scammer.
• Never click on links in text messages as you cannot tell where they will take you.
• If you get an email which contains a link, you can hover over the link with your cursor and a small box will appear showing you where the link will take you. If you do not recognise the web address, do not click the link.
• If you are asked to provide your personal details or bank information, please stop and consider if you could be being scammed. You can contact the company using an official contact route to check if the request is genuine if you are worried that you do need to act.
• You can find loads more advice on the Take 5 to Stop Fraud