Government launches scam awareness campaign

 

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By Alun Williams

Posted on 2 Feb 2006 at 16:32

A 'scam awareness' campaign is being launched by two government bodies, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Its aim is to increase public awareness of the problem - which is often centred on the Internet - and provide practical advice on tackling the likes of email scams, phishing attacks, lottery scams, pyramid selling and even online dating scams.

Such scams are believed to fleece UK consumers of £1 billion per year, with research suggesting that 28 million Brits are targeted every year using disreputable, low-cost, mass-marketing techniques, whether they involve email, text message, post, telephone or the Web.

'Scams damage individuals and undermine confidence in legitimate marketing techniques, harming fair-dealing businesses,' said OFT Chief Executive, John Fingleton. 'Consumers who lose money to scams have very little chance of getting any of it back. So it is essential that, in addition to enforcing the law against scammers, we equip consumers with the skills and knowledge necessary to avoid falling victim to them in the first place.'

As part of an international consumer protection initiative, the campaign will include leaflets on how to spot a scam (available as a PDF download), step-by-step guides for protecting your self against specific scams (such as charity publishing, miracle health cures, and lottery scams) and an 'Internet sweep' to identify current online traps. It will be backed by nationwide radio and Web advertising.

'Campaigns like this show how important it is for everyone to know how to spot a scam. They don't just target the gullible and the greedy - in fact a scam artist can fool anyone,' added Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs, in the DTI.

The 'stamp out scams' campaign will run throughout February and you can find out more information on the Scams section of the OFT website.

There is even a 'scambuster quiz' to test your own scam-detection capabilities.