We have been made aware of a potential scam where criminals are using the cost of living crisis as a cover to scam people.

Law enforcement, government and private sectors partners are working together to encourage members of the public to be more vigilant against fraud, particularly about sharing their financial and personal information, as criminals seek to capitalise on the cost of living crisis.

It usually involves a text message, but it could be emails and phone calls relating to claiming either cost of living or winter fuel payments and invites the recipients to claim via clicking a link.

We are reminding our residents to be vigilant against this type of scam and that the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) would only send links which point to the official GOV.UK website.

Please be mindful of any such scams and take the following steps:

• do not click the links within the messages.
• refer any of these text messages to: Action Fraud (opens in a new window) on 0300 123 2040
• block the number from your mobile phone

You can read more about the scam by visiting the Action Fraud website (opens in a new window).