Is This Letter Real? 2026: How to Check a Fake Letter, Text or Email Scam in the UK
Scam messages are designed to make you act before you think. They copy real logos, real wording and sometimes real phone numbers. Being taken in by one does not mean you were careless. It means someone spent money and effort trying to fool you.
This guide gives you a simple way to check any letter, text, email or call — and tells you exactly what to do if you have already paid.
The tells: what fakes almost always have in common
You rarely need to be an expert. Nearly every scam leans on the same handful of tricks.
- Urgency. “Act within 24 hours.” “Final notice.” Real organisations give you time and a proper appeal route.
- Threat. Arrest, court, your account being closed, bailiffs today. Genuine bodies follow a process and put it in writing.
- An unusual way to pay. Gift cards, cryptocurrency, vouchers, or a bank transfer to a “safe account”. No genuine bank, government department or police force will ever ask for any of these.
- A link that does not match the official website. Hover over it, or press and hold on a phone, and look at the real address. Official UK government pages sit on gov.uk. A close-but-not-quite domain is the giveaway.
- “Your account has been suspended.” A classic, because it makes you panic and log in through their fake page.
- They contacted you out of the blue about money you did not know about.
The safest habit in the world: never use the contact details in the message. Close it. Go to the organisation’s real website or the number on your bank card, and ask them directly whether it is genuine.
The impersonation scams hitting UK households now
The HMRC “tax refund” text or email
HMRC states plainly that it will never tell you about a tax rebate, or ask for personal or payment details, by text message, and only ever emails about a rebate from an address ending in hmrc.gov.uk (GOV.UK). Real refunds come by post or through your Personal Tax Account. Forward scam HMRC texts to 60599 and scam HMRC emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk.
The DWP or Universal Credit message
Messages claiming you must “re-verify” your Universal Credit account, or that a cost-of-living payment is waiting for you, are a common lure. Genuine DWP payments do not require you to enter your bank details through a link in a text. If you are unsure, sign in to your Universal Credit account the normal way, or ring the DWP using the number on GOV.UK.
The bank “safe account” scam
Someone calls, says they are from your bank’s fraud team, tells you your money is at risk, and asks you to move it to a “safe account”. There is no such thing. Your bank will never ask you to transfer your money elsewhere, and will never ask for your full PIN or password. Hang up, wait five minutes (or use a different phone), and call the number on the back of your card.
The delivery or parcel fee text
“Your parcel could not be delivered, pay a small fee to re-arrange.” The fee is tiny on purpose — the point is your card details, not the £1.99. If you really are expecting a parcel, check on the courier’s own website using the tracking number you were given at the time of order.
The “your National Insurance number has been compromised” call
An automated call tells you your National Insurance number has been used fraudulently and asks you to press 1 to speak to an officer. Your National Insurance number cannot be suspended or reissued over the phone. Hang up. Do not press anything.
How to check a company or a firm is real
If a letter comes from a company you have never heard of — a debt collector, an investment firm, a “claims” company — you can check it yourself in a couple of minutes.
- Companies House shows whether a UK company actually exists, when it was registered, who runs it and whether it is still active. A company registered three weeks ago that is chasing you for an old debt deserves a very hard look.
- The FCA Register shows whether a firm is authorised to offer financial services in the UK. Anyone offering you an investment, a loan or insurance should be on it. Watch for clone firms — scammers copy the details of a real authorised firm and change only the phone number or website, so always use the contact details on the Register itself, not the ones in the message.
Our free firm checker takes you straight to the official registers. If the letter is real but you do not understand what it is asking, put it through the letter decoder.
If you have already paid
Move quickly, and do not waste energy on embarrassment. Speed matters far more.
- Contact your bank immediately — there is usually a fraud number on the back of your card, and many banks let you report it in the app. The sooner they know, the more chance they have of stopping the payment.
- Change any passwords you gave away, and any others that use the same password.
- Report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or at actionfraud.police.uk (England, Wales and Northern Ireland). In Scotland, report to Police Scotland on 101.
You may have a right to get the money back
Since 7 October 2024 the Payment Systems Regulator’s mandatory reimbursement rules mean that banks and payment firms must reimburse most victims of authorised push payment (APP) scams — where you were tricked into transferring money yourself — on Faster Payments and CHAPS. Reimbursement is capped at £85,000 per claim, the sending firm should ordinarily deal with the claim within five business days (with a longer window if it needs to investigate), and firms can refuse claims made more than 13 months after the last payment (PSR policy statements on APP scams reimbursement).
Firms may apply an excess of up to £100, and that excess cannot be applied to vulnerable customers. If your bank refuses to reimburse you and you think it is wrong, you can take the complaint free to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Our guide to getting money back after a bank transfer scam walks through it.
Card payments are different — those are usually covered by chargeback or Section 75, not the APP rules.
Report it, even if you did not lose anything
Reporting takes seconds and it genuinely helps shut scams down.
- Scam texts: forward to 7726 (free — it spells SPAM on a keypad).
- Scam emails: forward to report@phishing.gov.uk (the National Cyber Security Centre’s Suspicious Email Reporting Service).
- Scams pretending to be HMRC: texts to 60599, emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk.
- Fraud you have lost money to: Action Fraud, 0300 123 2040 — or 101 in Scotland.
The one-line test
If a message is pushing you to act right now, through a link it gave you, using a payment method that cannot be reversed — stop. Real organisations can wait ten minutes while you check.
And if you have been caught out, get free, non-judgemental help: Citizens Advice can talk it through with you, and if the money loss has left you struggling, StepChange offers free debt advice on 0800 138 1111. If it has hit you hard emotionally, the Samaritans are there 24 hours a day on 116 123.
SortedUK is an independent, free service. We are not a bank, a regulator, the police or a law firm, and we are not affiliated with any government body — we point you to the official routes and to Citizens Advice when a human adviser is the right next step. Reporting routes, reimbursement rules and helpline numbers in this article were verified in July 2026 against GOV.UK, HMRC, Action Fraud, the NCSC and the Payment Systems Regulator.