Is this a scam or is it genuine

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Hi all. I've got a pre payment meter with ScottishPower for electric and gas. On Wednesday I received an email from pay point services with a link for a voucher worth £66. The email claims it's part of some government scheme to get £400 discount on bills and this is the first payment. Has anybody else had an email like this? The email tells me to click the link, pop off to the pay point with some ID and the shop will put the money on the key/card.
I'm wary of clicking it just in case it's a scam.

This says the payment will be sent by email or post so I'd say its probably legitimate.

The £400 is being paid in payments of £66/67 per month for 6 months

Can you contact Scottish Power separately - not through that email - to check. There's a lot of scams like this going around.

What is the email address it was sent from? What happens when you google the email address?

You’re right to question it

What is the email address?

Also you could call Scottish Power to double check

Hi OP, you are right to be wary as there are lots of scams about and they are very clever these days. When in doubt with something like this, always access the Scottish Power website directly via google (dont follow a link in the email) to get their number and ring and check. They sometimes have pages on their website that have pictures of popular scams etc.

Should the voucher come from Scottish Power and not PayPoint?

I got the same email on Wednesday as well from Scottish Power. The email address is from Paypoint. It does say if you have any questions about the voucher to go to Scottishpower.co.uk/getintouch so I'm going to go on their actual website and ask if it's legit.

I had a £66 payment from Ovo this week if that helps at all. I pay by DD though & it went straight into my bank account.

For people on top-up meters we'll be getting a voucher to use.

There is no email address. It just says 'pay point services' which is why my spidey senses are tingling I suppose. I'm going to have to phone ScottishPower to check, there's 3 hours of my life I'll never see again lol.
I'll be back to let you know when I've contacted them. I knew the government had announced something but I had no idea it was going to come in the form of a link through email. Have they publicised it and I've missed it? With all the warnings about scams I'm literally frozen in fear when it comes to links.

I think it might be legit if you pay by meter, OP. There are other MN threads about PayPoint.

is this your situation (local news paper article) ?

I have a smart meter and the payment went to my electricity automatically

From article I linked to, some people on pre-pay, not smart meters, will be emailed the voucher information & go thru PayPoint to put credit on their account.

It is an automatic payment to everyone, you do not have to do anything. Depending on your provider it will either be deducted from your bill or paid into your bank account if you pay by direct debit.

There is a different method for prepayment meters which involves a voucher

they can only do that if you have a smart meter. People with an old meter will be getting vouchers. I think it's sensible to check out the vouchers you get links to though as there are so many scams about,

@soundsofthesixties Or paid to you by voucher if you have a non smart meter prepay meter!

I wish companies did not do this without warning as how are people to know as there are so many scams.

One of the links above says the following which does suggest some kind of paypoint thing.

"Scottish Power

Smart prepay meters: The rebate will be credited to your electricity meter during the first week of the month.

Traditional prepay meters: Customers will receive a voucher in the first two weeks of each month, which can be added to electricity and gas meters at PayPoint stores."

I tried to use live chat but it gives you options for what you want to discuss then ends the chat which is incredibly frustrating. I'll try and get through to them as well and update here if you haven't already OP.

I'm 90% sure it's legit but always best to be careful.

Hiya, we also got same email, personally I think genuine, although haven't clicked it yet, will also contact Scottish power to check first, but does advise that will be voucher for normal pre payment meter, by email or post. Smart meters are automatically updated, the only people I know thats had them are Scottish power customer who are on this meter, and its paypoint we use to top up. I've not heard of anyone getting it who is on smart meter or DD, you should only need to flash ID to paypoint vendor, they don't keep, just verify it matches up. Our email account good at picking up suspected scam/phishing emails and came straight to inbox,I know t not a guarantee but I think it will be confirmed as legit.

I used my voucher today and everything worked fine.