Analysis Exclusive

Pensioner? Beware cruel Winter Fuel Allowance scams

Starmer-Reeves recklessness and conscious cruelty puts millions in danger of losing life savings…

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ cut to the Winter Fuel Allowance (WFA), previously awarded to every pensioner to help with excessive costs of heating a home but now denied to around ten million, is consciously and recklessly cruel – Reeves and her boss know from Labour’s own research that it will kill at least four thousand pensioners every winter.

But Labour’s determination to find every way to penalise the poor and vulnerable to please rich donors has put even more pensioners in serious danger – of financial ruin that goes far beyond the hundreds of pounds a year they are losing because of Labour’s red-Tory policies.

Recognising an opportunity presented by pensioners’ desperation as they face a winter freeze, scammers are now sending out texts to people they think might have previously claimed WFA, with links that attempt to con vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings, like the one shown below:

The shoddy language of the example shown above is a red flag, but one that might be missed by elderly readers and might not be replicated by other scammers. The provided link led to a page designed to fool the unwary or desperate into providing vital bank and personal details that would have allowed the stripping of savings or the racking up of debt in the name of the victim.

The link has now disabled by the ‘shortlink’ provider for breach of terms of use, but it would be a matter of minutes or less to set up another link and repeat the process every time it is disabled.

If you are a pensioner, do not fall for the scam – and if you have elderly friends or relatives, make sure to warn them. Shame on the Starmer-Reeves axis for refusing to do even the most cursory risk analysis for the ways in which their policies are endangering some of our most vulnerable people.

One-Time
Monthly
Yearly

Make a one-time donation

Make a monthly donation

Make a yearly donation

Choose an amount

£5.00
£10.00
£20.00
£3.00
£5.00
£10.00
£50.00
£75.00
£100.00

Or enter a custom amount

£

Your support is hugely appreciated.

Your support is hugely appreciated.

Your support is hugely appreciated.

DonateDonate monthlyDonate yearly

If you wish to republish this post for non-commercial use, you are welcome to do so – see here for more.

4 comments

  1. Ever since I was forced to move over to UC in August I’ve been plagued with spam sms messages – including ones for heating allowance which I’m not eligible for.

    Never used to get them before. I’d like to know how these rodents got
    my number.

  2. There are several scam DWP texts doing the rounds right now … though they aren’t just being targeted at people who are in receipt of benefits, just randomly at anyone it seems.
    eg this one from telephone number 07886 776356:
    “A cost-of-living support scheme is currently being implemented by the state, which includes a one-off payment to every citizen living in the UK. These payments are designed to support you through current increases in the cost of living. We will close the application channel on October 25th 2024. If you need it, please apply in the link.”

  3. They most likely are random, Julie. But as I said – they never happened (or at least not with such frequency, I might have got, say, one a year) when I was on legacy benefit

    Only been getting them since I firced to migrate to UC. (That smarmerism once said it’d get rid of/reform/revolutionise..by changing the name!!)

    Mind you, nor did the £20 weekly covid payments….Or the scam texts that went with them.

    Just seems to be a bit too much of a coincidence, for me.

Leave a Reply

Discover more from SKWAWKBOX

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading