People power will help Monmouthshire crack down on scams

A nationwide ‘Scamnesty' campaign by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), which aims to help end the mass marketed scam mailings in the UK, is coming to Monmouthshire this February.

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. The deceptive letters, phone calls, and emails are designed to con victims out of their cash. UK consumers are losing £3.5 billion every year to the scams.

‘Scamnesty 2010' calls on people in Monmouthshire to fight back against the fraudsters by collecting any scam mailings they receive and dropping them into Monmouthshire County Council's One Stop Shops in Caldicot, Chepstow, Abergavenny and Monmouth or sending them to your local Trading Standards.

Last year's campaign revealed that the top five mass-marketed scam mailings are:

1. deceptive sweepstakes

2. misleading prize draws

3. fake clairvoyants/psychics

4. bogus foreign lotteries

5. ‘miracle' health cures

The scam mailings you send in will provide intelligence to the OFT and local Trading Standards Services and help inform future investigations which will prevent others from being scammed.

Phil Glanville, Monmouthshire County Council Trading Standards Manager said:

"Scammers use clever techniques to persuade people into parting with often large sums of money. We want to raise awareness of the issue and help prevent people being scammed in the first place.  You could help us stop the scammers just by dropping in your letters."

If you suspect a scam, call Consumer Direct for advice on 08454 04 05 06 or visit www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/scamnesty

You can also send scam letters to: Trading Standards, Monmouthshire County Council, County Hall, Cwmbran NP44 2XH.