We are urging residents to be on their guard following a scam incident in Hatfield.
On 28 August, an elderly resident was approached on her doorstep by a man claiming to be from the Winter Fuel Payments Department. The individual showed fake ID and told the victim that she was due to receive her winter fuel payment.
The fraudster produced a card payment machine, asking the resident to insert her bank card for the money to be transferred into her account. The victim tried three separate cards, with each transaction failing. Shortly afterwards the bank informed the victim that multiple attempts had been made to withdraw thousands of pounds from each of her accounts.
This is the first reported incident of a scammer visiting a victim in person. Winter fuel payment scams usually involve fraudsters sending fake text messages or emails to trick people into revealing personal or financial details by claiming they need to apply for a payment they are eligible for. These messages contain links to fake websites or ask you to provide information.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirms that genuine Winter Fuel Payments are made automatically to eligible people, and they never request applications or personal details via text or email.
What to do if you receive a suspicious message or someone on your doorstep:
- Never allow access into your property to strangers
- No government department would ever ask for your bank card at your doorstep
- Do not click links: Avoid opening any links in the message.
- Do not reply: Do not respond to the text or email.
- Forward to report: Forward the scam message to 7726, which is a free service to report scams to your mobile phone provider.
- Forward emails: Forward scam emails to: report@phishing.gov.uk.
- Delete the message: After reporting, delete the message from your device.
- Block the sender: to ensure you don’t get further scam messages.
- Check the official source: Get reliable information about eligibility for the Winter Fuel Payment from the official Winter Fuel Payment: Overview – GOV.UKwebsite.
For more advice on fraud visit: www.herts.police.uk/cyber-fraud