GOV IE Scam Texts – Fake Social Protection Payments

A text arrives from a sender called "GOV IE", or from an ordinary mobile number. It says you qualify for a payment: a grant, a bonus, a cheaper electricity bill. There is a link to claim it. In January 2026 the Department of Social Protection warned about exactly this. RTÉ reported on 30 January 2026 that the Department was "warning people to be vigilant of scam text messages purporting to be from 'GOV IE' telling them they are eligible for a reduced electricity bill", and that the Department had confirmed the message was a scam. The Department's own scam alert on gov.ie tells you not to share "any part of your PPS number, Bank Account details or any other personal information", and settles the question in one line: "DSP staff never ask for such details by phone or text." It also says: "Do not click on any links they send you." MyGovID, the login people use for MyWelfare and other government services, is just as plain: "MyGovID will never include a hyperlink in a text message or email." Why this matters now: Budget 2027 was announced on 6 October 2026. The Department says a 100% Christmas Bonus will be paid to some 1.4 million long-term social welfare recipients in December 2026, and that the first Cost of Disability payment, a lump sum of €500, will be paid in 2027. Real payments in the news give a fake one something to borrow. In January, officials feared, in RTÉ's words, that "some people may confuse the scam attempts with legitimate financial assistance schemes". We have no report of a Budget 2027 version yet. This page sets out how the January one worked, because the next one is likely to look the same. For texts using the HSE's name, see HSE Scam Texts, and for WhatsApp messages offering free housing under a government scheme, see the Fake Free Housing Offer page. Both are under Scam Alerts.

• •People getting a social welfare payment, and anyone expecting one after Budget 2027
• •Pensioners and other long-term recipients waiting for the Christmas Bonus in December
• •Households worried about energy bills, for whom a cheaper electricity bill is worth a second look
• •People who already use MyWelfare or MyGovID, and are used to logging in to government services online
• •Recent arrivals to Ireland who do not yet know how the Department contacts people. The Department publishes its scam alert in 14 languages, including Polish, Ukrainian and Hindi

• •The payment can sound real. The January 2026 text offered a reduced electricity bill through an "Emergency Benefit Scheme". RTÉ noted that no such scheme was running, but that energy credits had been paid in recent years under the Electricity Costs Emergency Benefit Scheme, so the name sounded right
• •Good news gets less scrutiny than a demand. Nobody wants to miss a payment they are owed
• •A sender name proves nothing. ComReg lists spoofed texts among the most common scam texts in Ireland, and Bank of Ireland warns that scam texts "can even appear under trusted contact names stored in a customer's phone"
• •The login page can be a close copy of a real one. MyGovID has published an example of a fake text with a misspelt address, "mygov.id", whose link led to a page asking for an email address, a password and card or bank details
• •Asking for a PPS number feels normal for a welfare payment, so the request does not stand out
• •Budget week fills the news with real payments, so a text about a payment arrives on top of headlines about one