There needs to be greater awareness amongst the public to help protect communities from scammers.
There are good initiatives from the National Trading Standards Scams Team and Local Authorities, but more has to be done to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams.
Too many people fall victim to increasingly sophisticated scams. Many of these scammers target vulnerable groups of people, but in truth anyone can be taken in by them.
We need to empower communities to take a stand against scams. It is important to encourage people to take action if they have fallen victim to a scam and it is also important to highlight the scale of the problem, so that we have a better understanding of how these scammers operate and how to tackle them.
It is also important that we change the perceptions of why people fall for scams and make scams a community, regional and national topic. People should be especially aware of door to door scams, online scams and mass marketing scams through the post.
Each year mass marketing mail scams, which often target vulnerable or disadvantaged consumers, cause approximately £3.5 billion worth of detriment to UK consumers.
The National Trading Standards Scams Team helps tackle mass marketing scams and disrupts the operations of perpetrators behind mail scams. It works in partnership with agencies across the country to identify and support victims of mass marketing fraud. The team provides guidance, best practice and establishes a centre of excellence to assist local authorities in supporting local victims and taking local enforcement action.
Potentially fraudulent mail should be reported to Royal Mail –
Write to: Freepost Scam Mail
Call: 0800 011 3466
Email: scam.mail@royalmail.com
