Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking with law enforcement agencies to help (a) identify and (b) prevent winter fuel payment scams.

In partnership with Action Fraud, we are raising awareness of Winter Fuel Payment scams across Facebook and Twitter. This is alongside DWP’s continued work with trusted partners and charities such as Independent Age to ensure accurate and timely information is available. DWP has also developed a recorded message for our telephone lines and issued a press release via GOV.UK to raise awareness of Winter Fuel Payment scams.

To protect customers from fraudulent SMS messages, DWP has registered all official Sender IDs with the Mobile Ecosystem Forum (MEF). UK mobile networks use this register to block messages claiming to be from DWP that are not sent through approved routes.

Scams that are reported to or discovered by the Department that use other channels, such as social media, are managed through existing security processes and referred to Action Fraud where appropriate. Significant trends are also shared with the National Cyber Security Centre.