Help beat the scammers
From Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, Councillor Mrs Holl-Allen on 01 February 2010
Solihull Council and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) are urging residents to drop off potential scam mail in one of Solihull’s 18 collection boxes during February for Scamnesty month.
Scamnesty calls on residents to fight back against fraudsters by collecting any scam mailings they receive and dropping them into designated Scamnesty bins located in the borough’s Connect centres, libraries and Citizen Advice Bureaux.
Scamnesty is a nationwide campaign which aims to tackle mass scam mailings in the UK, which are estimated to cost UK consumers £3.5billion a year.
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 victim to a scam involving deceptive unsolicited mailings, phone calls or emails.
The Scamnesty bins will provide valuable new information to the OFT and local authority Trading Standards Services. Last year the campaign revealed that the top five mass-marketed scam mailings in the UK were: 1) deceptive sweepstakes, 2) misleading prize draws, 3) fake clairvoyants/psychics, 4) bogus foreign lotteries, and 5) ‘miracle’ health cures.
Heather Clayton, OFT Senior Director, said: “‘Scamnesty 2010 promises to reveal a marked increased in scale and range of mass marketed scam mailings in the UK. Every day, people are at risk from unscrupulous fraudsters who want to con them out of their cash. By dropping your scam mailing into your local Scamnesty bin, you will help provide crucial intelligence to support us in stopping scams bringing misery to millions of people every year.”
Cabinet Member for Safer Communities, Councillor Mrs Holl-Allen said: “Through Scamnesty month we want to raise public awareness about scams and urge people to help us identify the methods used. It is often hard to identify a scam, as many mailings, emails or phone calls can seem very genuine. The best piece of advice is, if it seems too good to be true it probably is.”
As well as letters and mailers you can now report scam emails, text messages
and phone calls by visiting www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/watch_out/. For clear practical advise on scam call Consumer Direct 08454 04 05 06
For media enquiries please contact Olivia White 0121 704 8373
Email: owhite@solihull.gov.uk