Council and democracy

Croydon cracks down on scams

Croydon is backing 'Scamnesty' this February - a campaign that will galvanise local people to help end the scourge of mass marketed scam mailings.

The drive has been organised by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) in response to the fact that every year 3.2 million adults - one in 15 people - across the country fall victim to scams. These might involve deceptive and unsolicited mailings, phone calls, or emails. Each of these is designed to con victims out of their cash, and it is thought that UK consumers lose a staggering £3.5 billion every year to unscrupulous fraudsters.

'Scamnesty 2010' calls on the people of Croydon to fight back against the fraudsters by collecting any scam mailings they receive and dropping them into one of about thirty designated 'Scamnesty' bins located at libraries and other council offices around the borough.

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.

Normally only about 5% of scam victims report their experiences to the authorities, meaning that a lot of crimes go uninvestigated. The Scamnesty bins will therefore provide valuable new intelligence to the OFT and Croydon Council's Trading Standards Service and help inform future investigations which will prevent others from being scammed.

Councillor Gavin Barwell, cabinet member for safety and cohesion said: "Based on the national figures we think that as many as 20,000 Croydon residents may fall victim to one scam or another every year. That's a huge number of people and something we have to address. This campaign will help us to clamp down on some of those responsible."

Heather Clayton, OFT Senior Director, said: "Scamnesty 2010 is expected to reveal a marked increase in the 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 any scam mail you receive into your local Scamnesty bin you will help provide crucial intelligence that may stop misery being brought to millions of people every year."

If you think you have been the victim of a scam, or you suspect a scam, call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/scamnesty where online e-mail and web scams can be dropped into a 'virtual bin.'