Have you ever been targeted by a
scam?
Around half the UK adult
population has been targeted by a scam and around 3.2 million people fall
victim to scams, losing a collective total of £3.5 billion every year.
Scams can come via the post,
telephone calls, text messages, emails, fake websites, pamphlets and many more;
all of which may promise you large sums of money, or a luxury holiday. Some may
just promise you health and happiness – but of course this does not come free.
In order to maintain good health you must send off a sum of say £25 for an ointment
that helps to minimise those wrinkles, or tablets that can cure any illness at
no risk. These types of promises are fraudulent. As are those fake lottery or
prize draw winnings and those bogus psychic predictions.
However, unfortunately people do fall for these fraudulent
promises. Portsmouth residents are sending off money to scam artists genuinely
believing they will get a return. Scams can have devastating consequences. Not
only may you lose out financially; some cases in Portsmouth have seen victims
lose over £100,000 to scam artists; but victims may also suffer from the
emotional and psychological stresses as a result of scams.
Scams are very much a hidden crime. Many who fall victim to
a scam may not tell their family and friends or even report it to the
authorities and therefore end up isolated and suffering alone.
For some, scam letters become almost threats in their own
home; some letters from so-called clairvoyants inform an individual that if
they do not send off money something ‘bad’ will happen to a family member.
This may be the ‘hook’ which sees
someone who perhaps has recently suffered a bereavement or is in a state of
grief reply to such a letter.
For many victims, they have been
targeted by more than one scam. Once you reply to just one scam your name and
details are put on a ‘suckers list’ which can then be sold on to other
scammers. Victims can then start receiving over 50 letters everyday and may end
up replying and sending off cheques to each letter; and having bags and boxes
of scam letters in their homes will undoubtedly impact on a person’s wellbeing.
Scams are a serious issue in the
UK and unfortunately there is not a simple solution to stop them. Many scam
artists operate out of the UK and target thousands in one go. Therefore, every
year in February trading standards carry out a month of awareness raising about
scams.
This campaign, called Scamnesty,
sees your local community trading standards team working out and about within
the city carrying out events, hosting talks and much more to help spread the
message and ensure that our most vulnerable residents are not falling victim to
scams.
In addition Scamnesty is an
opportunity for residents and our partner agencies to get involved. We will be
deploying Scamnesty bins throughout the city for people to deposit any
scam mailings they get. At the end of February we will collect the bins and all
the scams will be entered into our database as intelligence. We want to
make sure that Portsmouth residents are not being ripped off by scams, and to
do this we are asking for your help! We are asking for you to keep your eyes
and ears open and let us know if you suspect someone may be a victim of a scam.
Please spread the message to
anyone you think will benefit from knowing about how they can protect
themselves. Further information regarding the location of our bins will be sent
out and advertised soon.
In the meantime, here are a few
useful things you can do to help:
- Please promote our scam email address: scams@portsmouthcc.gov.uk – we are collecting any scam emails. i.e. fraudulent bank emails asking for you to update your details
- If you are receiving lots of junk mail or unsolicited telephone calls you can register with the Mailing Preference Service: www.mpsonline.org.uk and the Telephone Preference Service: www.tpsonline.org.uk (please note the TPS does not stop international calls)
- Report any scams to Consumer Direct: call 08454 04 05 06 or to Action Fraud: 0300 123 2040
- Keep a look out in your community or the areas you work in – are vulnerable people receiving lots of mail every day? Ask them if they know about scams
- Always be suspicious if you receive a letter/email or phone call out of the blue asking for money upfront
- Keep a look out on the council web pages/local news etc for updates regarding our campaign and let us know if you want to get involved
Scams are scheming, crafty,
aggressive and malicious. Don’t let them con you!
View the Office of Fair Trading Scambuster leaflet by clicking here
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