Dom Littlewood on Warm Home Discount scam catching pensioners out

Dom has spent over two decades exposing fraudsters and protecting consumers — from doorstep tricksters to sophisticated online scams — through his TV work on Don’t Get Done, Get Dom, Fake Britain, and The One Show. His current campaign is based around the Warm Home Discount scams.

“What will happen is, generally speaking, most people will get a text, an email, phone call, or even an automated message saying that you need to click on this link to get it or upload your details,” but, Dom clarifies: “It’s scammers trying to get your your details, harvesting and phishing for all your information.”

He’s teamed up with Smart Energy GB to raise awareness of these targeting millions of Brits that falsely claims people need to sign up for government support such as the Warm Home Discount to steal victims’ personal information. 

“Warm Home Discount runs from October through to March next year, so a lot of scammers have picked up on this,” he says.

How do you claim your Warm Home Discount?

According to gov.uk, if you’re eligible, your electricity supplier will apply the discount to your bill. The money is not paid to you.

You’ll usually get the discount automatically if you’re eligible.

“If you’ve got a smart meter, then this will happen is you’ll get the money automatically, or if you’ve got a prepayment smart meter, which a lot of people have, now automatically, the £150 payment will go directly onto your meter,” says Dom.

“You don’t have to do things, any call, text, email, or anything else you get through like that. You need to treat it with extreme caution.

“If you’ve got a regular smart meter like a lot of people have, I have – I love them – what will happen is the £150 pound payment will go to your energy provider as a credit to your account, and you won’t ever need to to do anything. It will just arrive.”

How about if I don’t have a smart meter or smart prepayment meter?

“If you’ve got the old fashioned prepayment meters, not a smart one, which a lot of people are switching from now, you’ll get a voucher in the post,” says Dom.

“The government made a small announcement recently that they will be sending out letters to people, so that might confuse some people, but in the letters, they will never ask for any of your personal details, as in bank or finance etc, and they’ll give you a government number to phone up on.”

Who gets a Warm Home Discount?

You qualify if you either:

“The Warm Home Discount is only for people who are eligible, and the DWP will let people know they are on that list,” says Dom.

“It might be on Pension Credits, they might be on some other benefits. You don’t automatically get it if you’re on PIP payments. Some will, some won’t, but that’s another thing where people get confused.

“There’s a lot more people getting it this year than one because they’ve expanded it, and that’s where the confusion creeps in – when you suddenly get a text through saying ‘apply for your warm home discount, you need to click on this link’.

“You can see how people, very easily get sucked into it. There’s also that panic. A lot of people think they’re going to miss out on it. It will arrive at some point between end of October and March next year.

The biggest warning sign of a scam

“The first and biggest warning sign is a sense of urgency,” says Dominic. “Of course, what the scammers want you to do is act immediately with a sense of panic, before you have a chance to speak to your sons, daughters, neighbours, friend down at the coffee shop, etc.

“They want you to very quickly click on the link, thinking you miss out on £150 payment. Next thing you know, the details have been stolen, and we all know what that can lead to. Urgency is definitely a red flag.”

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Is it different in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

“At the moment, if you’re in Northern Ireland, you’re not entitled to it at all. If you’re in England and Wales, the rules are the same. If you’re in Scotland, you need to apply for it yourself with your energy provider, and that’s the difference all the countries.

“But again, you’re not going to get, you’re not going to get a text from a third party.

“Basically any text, email or phone call telling you that you’re telling you that you need to apply for it is going to be a scam. You can take that as guaranteed.”