Bristol faces rise in fake Warm Home Discount offers

Residents in Bristol and the South West are being targeted by energy-related scams pretending to offer government discounts.

Transcript

00:00Across Bristol and the wider southwest, residents report a high level of energy-related scam contacts,

00:07with more than one in four saying they receive daily scam calls or texts, and around one in three saying it happens weekly.

00:13Criminals often impersonate the Warm Home Discount, a government scheme that gives eligible households £150 off electricity bills.

00:22The real discount is applied by suppliers to the bill, is not paid to you in cash,

00:26and does not require anyone to respond to a text or share bank details.

00:31People can check official guidance on the government's website and with their energy supplier,

00:36and report suspicious emails to report at phishing.gov.uk.

00:40Suspicious texts can be forwarded to 7726, which helps phone providers to block the sender.

00:46If money or personal details have been given, contact the bank straight away and make a report to Action Fraud for further advice,

00:53taking a moment to check the source of any message could be the difference between saving money and losing it.