Ann Docherty, 84, was sent the text and she said it looked official.
The message mentioned the Department for Work and Pensions and urged her to “apply now” for her winter heating allowance or risk missing out.
Luckily, she didn’t click on the link.
She said: “I’ve always got the money. It’s always been automatic.
“When I showed it to my son he said: ‘That’s a scam’.”
At Castlemilk Senior Centre in Glasgow, others in the line-dancing class are concerned by Ann’s message.
Emily McCole said: “I think it’s terrible that they’re taking advantage of people, but some of them, it’s like well-known organisations they’re using as a front.”
Ann Stoddart always treats unknown texts with suspicion. She said: “It’s concerning. I just do not open them. I just delete it straight away.”
But Maureen Crawford said she had received similar messages and been tempted to open them.
“I might even have believed it if my husband hadn’t been there,” she said.
