Fake gambling winnings dominate scam SMS in the UK
Tania Levees
05 September 2025
Comment 0
The British telecommunications company Virgin Media O2 — operator of the UK’s largest mobile network, O2 — has issued a warning to its customers following a sharp increase in scam messages about gambling winnings.
In 2025, Virgin Media O2 blocked more than 600 million fraudulent text messages sent to users. That figure is more than double the combined totals for 2023 and 2024.
After analyzing the content of these scams, the company found that gambling had become the most common theme, including fake prize wins and offers of free credits on gambling websites.
To claim these non-existent prizes, fraudsters typically ask Britons to provide personal data — often banking details, supposedly needed to transfer winnings.
According to Virgin Media O2, scammers also frequently exploit other themes, such as:
- messages from a “child in trouble” asking for money;
- fake parking fines;
- bogus job offers promising high earnings.
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