Nationwide Building Society has issued an urgent warning to its members after a sophisticated scam letter, falsely claiming to offer exclusive savings rates, began circulating. The fraudulent communication attempts to trick customers into handing over personal and financial information.
How the scam operates
The alarm was raised on 6th December 2025, when a vigilant customer contacted Nationwide via social media. They had received a letter that appeared to be from the mutual, promoting what it called "exclusive fixed rate deals 'in collaboration with Raisin'". The offers included a 1 Year Fixed Rate Bond Saver at 6.45% and a 1 Year Fixed Rate Cash ISA at 5.85%, with a claim deadline of 5th December 2025.
However, the customer's suspicions were correct. Nationwide swiftly confirmed: "Just to confirm that this isn't an official letter from Nationwide." The building society has since passed the details to its Economic Crime team for investigation.
Official advice to protect yourself
In response to this worrying incident, Nationwide has reiterated crucial advice for all banking customers. If you receive any suspicious communication:
- Report it immediately to your bank or building society. Nationwide can be contacted via its 24/7 fraud line, in branch, or through its online chat function.
- Always verify any unexpected letter, email, or text by using contact details from an independent source. Call the number on the back of your bank card, visit a branch in person, or access the official website via a Google search.
- Never use the contact details, phone numbers, or website addresses provided in the suspicious message itself.
The fraudulent letter instructed recipients to email their full name, contact number, and investment amount to APPLY@RAISINGPROMOTIONS.COM—a direct request for data that a legitimate bank would never make.
Genuine communications vs. fraud
Nationwide clarified that while it does send genuine letters to customers about savings opportunities—such as its 5.00% Member Bond earlier this year—its official correspondence has clear hallmarks. "We would only ever ask customers to apply online or in branch," the mutual stated. All legitimate product communications also include templated information on 'keeping you and your money safe'.
When asked if this was part of a wider campaign, Nationwide responded: "We're not aware of any other widespread scam letters, but we take all reports seriously and we are monitoring the situation closely." Fraudsters often impersonate trusted institutions to harvest data for identity theft or to steal money directly from accounts.
Customers are urged to remain extremely cautious of any unsolicited offers that seem too good to be true and to follow the official verification steps to keep their finances secure.
