You Can’t Win It – So Bin It! February is ‘Scamnesty’ Month
Throughout February, Warwickshire consumers are being urged to ‘bin a scam’ in support of ‘Scamnesty’, the national month long scams awareness campaign, the County Council’s Trading Standards Service has announced.
‘Scamnesty bins’, located at main libraries and one stop shops across Warwickshire will be available throughout the month for residents to bin their bogus prize draws and sweepstakes, scam lotteries and advanced fee fraud letters. Trading Standards Officers will then collect the bins, identify issues and then shred them!
For more information about Scamnesty, including scam bin locations and further details on mass marketing scams, please visit our website http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/scamnesty
Warwickshire County Councillor Richard Hobbs, Portfolio Holder for Community Protection said:
“Millions of people each year are targeted by mass marketing scams and one in every 15 recipients fall victim to them. One of the ways in which these deceptive unsolicited mailings, phone calls, or emails can be tackled is by raising awareness of them.
During ‘Scamnesty’ month Warwickshire Trading Standards will be running a number of initiatives to make people more aware of these scams, which cost UK consumers a staggering £3.5 billion every year!
Our message is simple – you can’t win it – so bin it”
The criminal gangs that organise mass marketing scams use the same delivery methods that legitimate companies use to market their goods and services.
They obtain lists of names, addresses, phone numbers and emails from legitimate sources and use this information to send out millions of scam emails and letters or make unsolicited phone calls.
People who respond or send money are then placed on a special list and it is these people who then typically will receive even more scams mail.
The top 4 mass marketing scam complaints reported by consumers are:
1) Advance fee and money transfer
2) Prize draws and sweepstakes
3) Ticketing
4) Foreign lotteries
What can I do?
There are many things you can do to protect yourself and your family from mass marketing dams.
· Avoid divulging your name, address, telephone number or email address to people you don’t know or trust. Fraudsters can sometimes use the same lists as legitimate businesses to send their mailings.
· Never respond to a scam, this will just encourage them to send you more.
· Elderly and vulnerable people lose more money than most from these sorts of scams. Make sure neighbours and relatives are aware.
· Keep up to date with the latest scams and know how they work, visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/tradingstandards