Scams awareness
Scams hit the oldest and most vulnerable consumers the hardest and are designed to con you out of your cash by post, telephone, email, the internet or face-to-face. They make false promises which cost UK consumers £3.5billion a year.
To learn how you can combat scams and not become a victim of one, please download the PDF document that can be found below in Related documents. The Office of Fair Trading had produced this new scams awareness leaflet for carers. It offers tips on how to spot a scam and how to help people from becoming a victim of a scam. Research shows that when people respond to scams and pay out money they are put on a so-called ‘suckers list’ and will be bombarded with hundreds of new scam mailings through their letterboxes.
Report scams online
Consumer Direct, the government advice service, has added a new reporting function to its website to help in the fight against scams.
Anyone in the East of England can now report any scam mail they receive simply by visiting Consumer Direct’s website. A new online form will make it easier and more convenient for people to pass on details of scams, by recording the type of scam that they have encountered, provide information on the potential scammers and to add any further information which they feel may be of use to the authorities.
All information submitted about local scams will be stored on Consumer Direct's central database and made available to Local Authority Trading Standards Services and the Office of Fair Trading to help them in their battle against persistent scammers.
According to OFT research, three million UK consumers fall victim to scams every year and lose an estimated £3.5 billion. However, fewer than five per cent of people report scams to the authorities.
Melanie Thornton from Consumer Direct East of England said: 'In the past, people who have been targeted by phone, internet and mail scams may have felt unsure about how they could help but this new online form will enable them to provide vital intelligence to the enforcement community.
Completing a simple online form should make it much quicker and easier for people to tell us about a scam they are aware of. This will hopefully help to increase the level of scam reporting and improve the information we can pass on to Trading Standards and the OFT for investigation.'
‘Anyone who thinks they have responded to a scam should call Consumer Direct for advice.’ Melanie added.
The Consumer Direct website also has information on how to spot scams currently circulating in the UK, including bogus foreign lotteries, pyramid selling, miracle cures and investment scams.
The scams reporting launch coincides with Scams Awareness Month - an annual international initiative organised by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. In the UK, Scams Awareness Month is supported by the OFT, local authority Trading Standards Services, Consumer Direct, the Advertising Standards Authority and other consumer and industry bodies.
The new scams reporting form can be accessed from the Consumer Direct| (new window) website.
Anyone needing advice on scams can call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.