North Yorkshire Police have received a number of reports over the weekend from residents who have received a text message to apply for the £400 energy rebate. They tell us that:
‘This is a scam. The rebate is applied directly by the energy companies and you do not have to apply for it.
The text message encourages the user to click on a link and is then asked to input banking details. I suspect the format will then follow similar scams (Royal Mail Delivery/Covid contact) where the victim will subsequently receive a call claiming to be from their bank telling them they are monitoring suspicious activity on their account and they need to move their money to protect it.
Remember, the police or bank will NEVER ask you to move money to a safe account.
You can report scam text messages by forwarding them to 7726 which is a free service’