Centrelink ‘$1,600 Christmas Bonus’ Exposed as a Scam: The Real 2025 Cost‑of‑Living Payments and How to Stay Safe

As Australians head into the 2025 festive season, thousands of older Centrelink recipients are being bombarded with promises of a “$1,600 Centrelink Christmas bonus”, “new Christmas payment system” and one‑off cash boosts of $700, $890, $950, $1,321, even $2,000.

None of these bonus payments exist.

On 3 December 2025, Services Australia and fact‑checking outlets once again moved to shut down the rumours, warning that scammers and clickbait sites are actively exploiting cost‑of‑living stress and Christmas anxiety to harvest clicks, ad revenue and even personal data. ^[1]

At the same time, legitimate cost‑of‑living relief is available in 2025 – but it looks very different to the viral posts circulating on Facebook, TikTok and Google Discover.

What Happened on 3 December 2025?

Fresh coverage on 3 December pulled together a now‑familiar story:

A cluster of little‑known commercial websites has been claiming that older Australians will automatically receive a $1,600 “Centrelink Christmas bonus” on or around 20 December 2025, often wrapped in headlines like “New Centrelink Christmas Payment System Announced” or “Holiday Payment 2025 for Seniors”. ^[2]
Some of these pages go further, publishing made‑up “eligibility tables” showing Age Pensioners, Disability Support Pension (DSP) recipients and carers supposedly getting between $1,200 and $1,600 as a special Christmas deposit. ^[3]
On the other side, mainstream outlets and fact‑check sites have spent the week debunking the rumours, citing direct statements from Services Australia that no such bonus has been announced or funded. ^[4]

An explainer published by SSBCrack News on 3 December highlights how these false stories spread through social feeds and even appear in Google Discover cards, mixing claims of a $1,600 bonus with invented amounts of $750, $950, $1,800 and $4,100 to lure readers. ^[5]

Official Government Position: No New Centrelink Christmas Bonus in 2025

Services Australia’s own guidance is blunt.

On its “Misinformation about bonus Centrelink payments” page, last updated 21 November 2025, the agency warns that unofficial websites and social media accounts are sharing fake news about new or revived bonus payments, including offers that haven’t existed since the pandemic era. ^[6]

Key points from official material:

Fake posts often talk about “cash boosts”, “new bonus payments”, “one‑off Christmas payments” or “cost‑of‑living cheques”, but they are not real. ^[7]
The national Cost of Living Payment, which was widely paid out in 2022–23, ended on 30 June 2023 and has not been relaunched as a single lump‑sum program for 2025. ^[8]
Services Australia stresses that genuine updates appear only on official .gov.au websites or in your myGov inbox – not via ads, blogs or YouTube videos. ^[9]

Third‑party fact‑checkers at RobinsonFoundation.org echo that message, running a series of pieces in late November and early December titled “No $1,600 Centrelink Christmas Bonus in 2025”, “No $950 Centrelink Christmas Payout in 2025” and “No $2,000 Centrelink Payment in 2025”. These articles point back to Services Australia and confirm that there is no budget allocation, policy announcement or official communication supporting any of these viral claims. ^[10]

Inside the $1,600 Christmas Bonus Scam

The $1,600 rumour is just the biggest number in a wave of similar claims.

Where the rumour is coming from

According to SSBCrack’s 3 December report and multiple fact‑checking blogs, the narrative typically looks like this: ^[11]

A small, ad‑heavy website publishes an article saying “Centrelink confirms $1,600 Christmas payment for seniors” with a specific date like 20 December 2025.
Other sites then recycle or lightly rewrite the same story, sometimes changing the amount to $800, $1,321 or $1,550 to stand out in search results. ^[12]
These pages often sit on domains that have nothing to do with government services – including sites branded for restaurants, colleges, even hardware or laundry businesses – and host click‑driven, AI‑generated content in multiple countries at once. ^[13]

The common denominator: none are run by Services Australia or any Australian government department.

What Services Australia is saying

In comments reported by Yahoo Finance and summarised by SSBCrack, Hank Jongen, general manager of Services Australia, emphasised that these claims are “entirely fictitious” and warned that scammers are “opportunistic” at Christmas, when people are desperate for extra cash. ^[14]

Official guidance from Services Australia describes these stories as “clickbait” – content written to draw views and advertising revenue rather than to provide accurate information. In some cases, fake bonus posts have been used as funnels to phishing sites that imitate myGov or Centrelink log‑in pages. ^[15]

The Email Phishing Wave: 270,000 Australians Targeted

The misinformation problem isn’t just about misleading headlines.

On 29 November 2025, independent outlet Eyesight reported that around 270,000 Australians had been targeted in a sophisticated phishing campaign impersonating Centrelink, Medicare and the Australian Taxation Office. ^[16]

According to that report:

Victims receive emails or texts claiming they’re owed urgent Medicare refunds, superannuation tax benefits or cost‑of‑living “top‑ups”.
Links lead to convincing fake myGov login pages, designed to steal usernames, passwords and identification documents like Medicare numbers and driver’s licences. ^[17]
Authorities say the goal is long‑term identity theft and account takeover, not just a once‑off grab at a bank balance.

This scam wave overlaps with the bonus payment rumours, making it harder for ordinary Centrelink customers – especially older Australians – to know which messages to trust.

What Payments Are Real in Late 2025?

While there is no confirmed $1,600 Christmas bonus, there is genuine cost‑of‑living help flowing through the system in 2024–25. The key difference is that real support is:

Targeted (based on income, household type or benefit type)
Often smaller, recurring amounts rather than huge one‑off cheques
Delivered through official Commonwealth and state programs, not random blogs

1. Ongoing indexation of Centrelink payments

As several policy explainers note, Centrelink’s main payments – Age Pension, JobSeeker, Disability Support Pension, Youth Allowance and Carer Payment – receive regular indexation increases to keep pace (imperfectly) with inflation and wage growth. ^[18]

These increases:

Are built into the law and budget, not a discretionary Christmas gift
Apply automatically to eligible recipients – you don’t apply for them
Typically land in March and September each year, with the flow‑on effect visible in all subsequent payments

Some financial blogs have described these increases, combined with state rebates, as a kind of “cost‑of‑living boost”, but they are not a separate seasonal bonus.

2. Energy bill and cost‑of‑living rebates

The 2025–26 federal budget focuses strongly on energy bill relief rather than cash bonuses: ^[19]

Every Australian household is due to receive further electricity bill rebates through to the end of 2025, delivered via their provider rather than Centrelink.
States add their own relief:
- Queensland has a $1,000 Cost of Living Rebate on electricity for eligible households.
- New South Wales offers up to $150 National Energy Bill Relief for 2025–26, with most households receiving it automatically via their bill. ^[20]

These measures reduce outgoings rather than dropping a standalone lump sum into your bank account.

3. Stacked supports: Why you see amounts like $250 to $2,140

Guides from financial blogs such as Big Blue Unbiased describe an “Australian Cost of Living Payment 2025” with support ranging from $250 to $2,140, depending on your situation. They break this down into tiers like a basic cost‑of‑living boost, family supplement, senior grant and hardship relief. ^[21]

In practice, these articles are bundling together multiple existing supports – for example:

State cost‑of‑living concessions (like South Australia’s Cost of Living Concession and energy concession packages). ^[22]
Federal and state energy bill relief. ^[23]
Indexation‑driven increases to core Centrelink payments. ^[24]

When you add those up across a year, some households can indeed see total relief in the hundreds or low thousands of dollars – but it’s not one new, standalone “Australian Cost of Living Payment” that drops into your account all at once.

How to Tell Real Centrelink News From Fake Bonuses

With so many conflicting headlines, it helps to have a simple checklist.

1. Check the web address

Real government payment information will always be on a site ending in .gov.au – for example, servicesaustralia.gov.au or a state government domain. ^[25]
If the story is on a site linked to restaurants, colleges, random blogs or non‑Australian domains, treat it as commentary at best, or a scam at worst.

2. Look at how the payment is described

Red flags include: ^[26]

Exact, attention‑grabbing amounts that keep changing – $700, $750, $890, $950, $1,321, $1,600, $2,000 – especially if none appear on Services Australia’s pages.
Phrases like “secret bonus”, “unclaimed cash”, “hidden payment” or “apply before midnight”.
Claims that “everyone on Centrelink will get this payment automatically this month”.

Genuine government announcements tend to be dry, highly specific and easy to cross‑check with other official sources.

3. Check your myGov inbox – don’t trust screenshots

Services Australia repeatedly stresses that official messages about your payments will appear in your myGov inbox or in letters, not as random social posts or forwarded emails. ^[27]

If there’s no message there, assume the “bonus” you saw on social media is not real.

4. Never log in via a link in an email or SMS

Given the scale of the recent phishing campaign targeting 270,000 Australians, the safest rule is: ^[28]

Do not click on log‑in or “claim now” links in messages claiming to be from Centrelink, Medicare or the ATO.
Instead, type my.gov.au into your browser yourself, or use the official Express Plus Centrelink app.

What to Do if You Think You’ve Fallen for a Fake Centrelink Bonus

If you’ve already clicked a link, entered details or shared a supposed bonus story, don’t panic – but do act quickly.

Secure your myGov and banking accounts
- Change your myGov password immediately and turn on two‑factor authentication if it isn’t already enabled. ^[29]
- Contact your bank to flag potential fraud, especially if you entered card, account or PIN details.
Check for changes in your Centrelink account
- Log into myGov and inspect your payment history, contact details and bank account details for anything you don’t recognise. ^[30]
Report the scam
- Forward suspicious emails and texts to ReportCyber or Scamwatch, as recommended in official guidance. ^[31]
- Let Services Australia know via their scam reporting channels if a message pretended to be from Centrelink.
Seek help if you’re unsure
- Community organisations, financial counsellors and seniors’ advocacy groups can help you navigate suspicious messages and clean‑up steps. ^[32]