You get a text message with some good news: your mobile provider has been operating a rewards programme and you have earned almost 13,000 points.

You haven’t heard of the scheme before but since so many of the operators have rewards plans, you assume you must just have missed it. When you click on the link, you arrive at a site branded with your operator’s logo and find you can cash in your points for a new massage chair or a high-end vacuum cleaner, among other items. All you have to do is pay the postage.

The texts, the rewards programme, the site and the promise of expensive appliances are all part of a scam, however – the latest ruse by criminals to extract your bank details, which they can then exploit.

Recently, fake text messages have gone out claiming to be from EE and Vodafone and promising prizes from their rewards schemes.

A spokesperson for EE said it first heard of the scam two months ago and since then 265,000 people had reported the fake text messages. The company does not offer a points-for-rewards scheme.

Vodafone has the VeryMe Rewards scheme but says it never refers to it as the “Vodafone Rewards Club”, which is what it is called in some texts.

EE said the messages were sent via RCS, a more advanced type of messaging than SMS, and it is unable to block them (unlike SMS, which it can). EE said it was working with Apple and Google on the problem.

Vodafone said its customers were mostly not receiving the texts (labelled as coming from Vodafone) because RCS is not enabled by the carrier on iPhones. However, people on other networks are receiving them.

What it looks like

The text message claims to be a reminder that you have gathered points, and says most of them must be used immediately or they will expire.

“This message serves as an advance notice regarding your Vodafone Reward Points. You currently hold 12,739, of which 12,000 points are scheduled to expire in 3 days in line with the 2026 programme,” says one.

Another purporting to be from EE reads: “Important Reminder about your reward points. You currently have 12,739 Reward Points available in your account. If no action is taken, these points will expire in 3 days under the terms of the 2026 Reward Points campaign. To explore your reward options and redeem your points, please visit the link below.”

EE users who clicked on the link said they were taken to a site which appeared legitimate and offered prizes in exchange for points. They were asked to put in their bank details to have the items posted to them. When they entered the details, one user said: “It just refreshed to a blank page with a spinning icon.”

The scam tries to apply urgency by saying that there are only a few days to take advantage of the offer, a common tactic used by criminals to try to force people into decisions which they would not otherwise make.

What to do

If you do receive a message, don’t click on the link.

EE advises you highlight the scam by pressing on the “report spam” button on your mobile. You can also forward it to 7726 free of charge.

If you did supply personal details online, immediately contact your bank and report the incident to Report Fraud (formerly Action Fraud).