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 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.