Pensioners are being urged to stay alert after there has been a sharp rise in people receiving scam text messages impersonating the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and threatening the loss of the winter fuel payment .

One such message, seen by The i Paper , falsely claims recipients must apply for the 2024/25 winter heating allowance via a suspicious link or risk losing the £300 payment.

It instructs people to act before 11 August 2025 and uses an official-sounding tone to pressurise recipients into giving up personal information. But the link included – “gov.uk-notificationaw\.cfd” – is a major red flag.

While it may appear legitimate at first glance, it uses a fraudulent domain ending in “.cfd” rather than the Government’s secure “.gov.uk” and references the previous year

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