Premium Bond Prize Scams via Email
How fraudulent emails impersonate National Savings and Investments (NS&I) to claim recipients have won a Premium Bond prize, then extract fees or banking details to release the funds.
Part of: Premium Bond Prize Scams
Last reviewed: 8 June 2026
Premium Bond prize scams are particularly prevalent in the UK, where NS&I Premium Bonds are a widely held savings product familiar to a large proportion of the population. Because genuine Premium Bond prize notifications are sent by NS&I, the format of a notification email or letter claiming a prize win is not unfamiliar to many recipients — especially older bondholders who have held bonds for decades.
The scam exploits the known existence of unclaimed Premium Bond prizes — a real phenomenon that NS&I publicises — to suggest that large dormant winnings await the target. This detail lends the scam additional credibility because it references a genuine factual context.
The fraud is not limited to the UK equivalent: equivalent savings bond prize scams operate in other countries wherever similar state-backed savings instruments with prize draws exist.
How this scam works on email
An email arrives purporting to be from NS&I or a similar official savings authority, informing the recipient that their Premium Bond has won a prize, often in a sum substantially higher than typical prizes. The email uses NS&I branding, official-looking formatting, and references a bond number that may or may not correspond to bonds the target holds.
To release the prize, the recipient is asked to confirm their identity and banking details through a linked form, or to pay a small administrative release fee via bank transfer. In some variants, the recipient is directed to call a premium rate number to progress the claim.
NS&I does not contact bondholders by unsolicited email about prizes and does not charge fees to release winnings.
Common red flags
- Unsolicited email claims a Premium Bond prize when you were not expecting a notification
- Email requests bank details or payment to process or release the prize
- Sender email address does not match NS&I's official domain (nsandi.com)
- Prize amount is unusually large compared to typical Premium Bond prize tiers
- Link in email leads to a site that is not the official NS&I website
- Urgency to claim within a short window or forfeit the prize
How to protect yourself
- Verify any claimed prize by logging directly into your NS&I account at nsandi.com using your own saved bookmark, not the email link
- NS&I contacts prize winners by post for large prizes — not by unsolicited email with payment requests
- Never provide banking details through an email link — navigate to the official site manually
- Report suspicious NS&I emails to NS&I directly at [email protected]
- Check if your bonds are actually registered to the number cited before engaging
How to report it
- Report to Action Fraud at actionfraud.police.uk
- Forward suspicious emails to NS&I's fraud reporting address and to [email protected]
- Contact your bank if you have already provided financial details
Frequently asked questions
How do I check if my Premium Bonds have actually won a prize?
Log into your account directly at nsandi.com using a bookmark or by typing the address yourself, or use the NS&I prize checker tool, rather than clicking any link in an email. This is the only reliable way to confirm a genuine win.
Does NS&I ever email bondholders about prizes at all?
NS&I primarily notifies smaller prize winners by post or through their official app, and does not send unsolicited emails demanding bank details or fees to release winnings. Any email asking for payment or account details to claim a prize should be treated as fraudulent.
I clicked the link and entered my bank details — what should I do immediately?
Contact your bank straight away to flag the account and watch for unauthorised transactions, then report the email to NS&I's security team and to Action Fraud. Changing your online banking password as a precaution is also a sensible immediate step.
How does NS&I actually notify Premium Bond winners?
NS&I notifies winners of smaller prizes by post or through the NS&I app. Larger prizes are notified by phone and confirmed by post. NS&I does not send unsolicited emails demanding banking details or claiming fees to release prize funds.