Gwynedd Council’s Trading Standards officers are hoping that “people power” will help them crackdown on illegal scams.
The Council is taking part in the nationwide “Scamnesty” campaign headed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) during February. The campaign aims to end the scourge of mass marketed scam mailings in the UK.
Nearly half of the UK adult population has been targeted by a scam.
Every year, 3.2 million adults – one in 15 people – across the country fall prey to a scam involving deceptive unsolicited letters, phone calls or emails, which are designed to con victims out of their cash. UK consumers lose around a staggering £3.5 billion to scams every year.
This is roughly equivalent to £70 per adult living in the UK.
“Scamnesty 2011” will call on Gwynedd residents to fight back against the fraudsters by passing any scam mail they receive to Trading Standards officers. The scam mail can be dropped in to a special Scamnesty bin at the main Council Offices reception at Penrallt Caernarfon, Pwllheli and Dolgellau as well as in the Town Hall in Bangor and the Library in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Information gathered will provide Trading Standards and OFT with valuable new intelligence to help future investigations and stop others from being scammed.
Gwynedd Council Fair Trading Officer, Catherine Griffiths, said: “This campaign is designed to raise awareness in Gwynedd and to provide information to relatives who believe that a family member is becoming a victim of these scams.
“Unfortunately, we see many people in Gwynedd who receive dozens of letters every day asking them to send a processing fee or administration costs so that they can claim their ‘prize’. The stark reality is that every successful scam will con an average of £850 from its unsuspecting victim, which is a shocking amount to lose.”
The current top five mass-marketed scam mailings in the UK are:
1) Advance Fee;
2) Prize Draws/Sweepstakes;
3) Money Transfer;
4) Ticket Sales
5) Lotteries
Michele Shambrook, Operations Manager for the OFT-managed advice service Consumer Direct, added, “Scamnesty will help raise awareness of mass marketed scams mailings in the UK. Every day, people are at risk from unscrupulous fraudsters who want to con them out of their cash and it is important that consumers recognise the increasingly sophisticated methods of scammers.”
If you think you have been the victim of a scam, or you suspect a scam, call Consumer Direct for clear, practical advice on 08454 040506 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/scamnesty
