Fake Benefits Portal

A fake benefits portal is a cloned or near-identical copy of a real government benefits agency's website, complete with matching logos, color schemes, and layout, hosted on a domain name that looks plausible at a glance but is not the genuine government address. Victims typically arrive at the fake portal through a link in a phishing text or email, or occasionally through a paid search ad that outranks the real government site for benefit-related search terms.

Once on the fake portal, victims are prompted to 'log in' or 'verify their claim' by entering a username, password, date of birth, national identification number, and bank account details. Some fake portals go a step further and present a fake 'claim status' or 'payment calculation' screen after the credentials are entered, to delay the victim's realization that anything is wrong and to extract additional personal information such as security question answers. The only reliable defense is to always navigate to a benefits agency by typing its known official web address directly or using a bookmarked link, never by clicking through from a text, email, or search ad.