How to be wary of scammers taking advantage of the Council Tax Rebate scheme.

The £150 Council Tax Energy Rebate payments are due to start being made to households this week by Manchester City Council. However, households are urged to be wary of scammers attempting to take advantage of households during the scheme. 

What is the Council Tax Rebate scheme?

The scheme was announced by the government to help households cope with the record increase in energy prices, as the Energy Price Cap went up 54% at the beginning of April. Households in Council Tax bands A-D are eligible for the scheme. However, scammers are using the opportunity to try and obtain residents’ personal information and bank details over the phone and via text and email. 

Councils will NOT ask for your bank details over the phone. If you pay your Council Tax via direct debit, the rebate will go straight into your bank account automatically. If you don’t pay by direct debit, you will receive a letter from the Council inviting you to apply for the scheme, with Manchester City Council expecting to contact people in the middle of May. 

If you do receive a call, text or email that asks for personal information or bank details, you should refrain from giving out this information or clicking any links in the texts and emails. If you are unsure, you should contact the council directly to verify whether it is them really contacting you or not. 

How can I recognise a scam and how do I report it?

Scams can appear very convincing, so it is important that you always remain vigilant and understand how to spot a scam. If you don’t recognise the details of the individual or company that is requesting your information, you should remain wary and check whether you’re dealing with a legitimate individual or company. You can search for a company's details on the GOV.UK website. 

Spelling, punctuation and grammar errors in emails and texts are a telltale sign of a scam, so you should read the text carefully and watch out for these errors. You should also be wary if you’ve been asked to give out personal information or transfer money quickly or in an unusual way. If you are still unsure if something is a scam, you can use Citizens Advice’s online scams helper to check whether it is a scam and what you should do.

You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about falling for scams and you should report them immediately. You can report online scams through Citizens Advice’s Scams Action Service, where they will then be passed onto Trading Standards. You should also report scams to Action Fraud, the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud. You can do this on their website, or by calling 0300 123 2040.

You can report email scams by forwarding the email to report@phising.gov.uk, where it will go to the National Cyber Security Centre.

Scams you encounter through the post can be reported to Royal Mail by sending it to ‘Freepost Scam Mail’, alongside a scam mail report, which can be downloaded from Royal Mail.