Fake EV Home Charger Grant Scam

This scam targets electric vehicle owners and prospective buyers by offering access to a grant, rebate, or subsidy scheme supposedly covering the cost of installing a home EV charging point. It leverages the fact that genuine government or utility-backed EV charger incentive schemes exist in many regions, borrowing their names, logos, or general terms to appear credible.

Contact is usually unsolicited, arriving by phone, text, email, or online advert, and claims the recipient qualifies for free or heavily subsidised charger installation. Victims are asked to pay an upfront 'administration', 'registration', or 'processing' fee to access the funding, or are sold an installation at an inflated price where the promised grant discount either doesn't apply or is smaller than advertised.

As with other renewable and green-tech grant scams, the appeal of a subsidised, environmentally positive purchase — combined with genuine advertising for real schemes circulating in the same space — makes the fake version easy to mistake for a legitimate offer, particularly for people who have recently bought or are considering an electric vehicle.

The approach typically opens with a message claiming the recipient's postcode, address, or vehicle purchase qualifies them for a home charger grant, citing a real or real-sounding scheme name. It may reference a limited application window or a cap on available funding to create urgency.

The victim is directed to a phone consultation or online form where they are asked to pay a fee to 'register' for the grant or to schedule a 'free' survey that turns into a sales pitch. In some cases, an installer does turn up and fits a charger, but the unit is lower quality or the final price — after the supposed grant deduction — is similar to or higher than a fair market rate elsewhere, meaning the discount was illusory.

In other cases, no installation ever happens: the fee is collected, appointments are repeatedly rescheduled or excuses given, and eventually contact stops entirely. Victims who search for the scheme afterward often find no official government record matching the name, amount, or eligibility criteria they were told applied to them.

Real EV charger grant and incentive schemes do exist in numerous countries and are actively promoted, so an offer referencing accurate-sounding scheme names and typical subsidy amounts does not immediately raise suspicion. The environmentally conscious and often financially motivated mindset of EV buyers makes a subsidised charger offer particularly appealing.

Urgency around limited funding rounds discourages the comparison shopping that would normally expose an inflated price or a non-existent scheme, and the relative novelty of home EV charging for many new owners means they may not have a strong sense of typical installation costs to judge an offer against.

An electric vehicle owner receives a text message stating they qualify for a fully funded home charger installation under a government scheme, with a link to register before the funding round closes. On the linked page, they are asked to pay a small registration fee to secure a survey appointment. After paying, the promised survey is delayed repeatedly with shifting excuses, and eventually contact stops altogether. When the owner later checks their government's official EV charger scheme page, the scheme name and terms they were quoted do not match any real programme, and the company is not listed on the approved installer register.

You qualify for a fully funded home EV charger under our current grant scheme, register now to book your survey.

Limited funding remains in your area — secure your subsidised charger installation today.

A small registration fee is required to book your free charger survey and confirm your grant eligibility.

Your EV purchase qualifies you for a home charging grant, click here before the offer closes.

We're following up on your charger grant registration — payment is needed to finalise your booking.

Check current EV charger grant or subsidy schemes only through your government's official transport or energy department website, or your electricity utility's official published offers — not through a link, number, or claim provided by whoever contacted you. Verify that any installer offering to carry out the work is listed on the relevant official accreditation or approved installer register for your country.

Get independent quotes from at least two other installers to compare pricing, and treat any requirement to pay an upfront fee simply to 'access' or 'register' for a grant as a strong warning sign, since genuine schemes typically apply the subsidy as a direct discount through an accredited installer rather than a separate advance fee paid by the homeowner.