Vulnerable consumers saved over £5 million

Fight against mail scams intensifies during Scams Awareness Month

Vulnerable consumers have been saved more than £5 million* over the past three years thanks to the work of the National Trading Standards Scams Team (NTSST), new data reveals. Since its inception, the team has directly stopped at least £2.7 million from making its way in to the hands of criminals and has supported local trading standards teams to make savings of a further £2.3m**.

The specialist team has so far identified nearly 200,000 potential victims who appear on so-called ‘suckers lists’ used by scammers. The average age of victims is 74, showing that these criminals tend to prey on older – and often more vulnerable – members of society. The total amount of money lost by 10,843 identified victims is £1,184 per person, or nearly £13 million in total.

The NTSST is releasing these figures to highlight the scale of the issue during Scams Awareness Month, and to urge people to be vigilant and look out for relatives or neighbours who may be vulnerable to mass marketing scams.

Lord Toby Harris, Chair of National Trading Standards, said:

“To have saved consumers more than £5 million in three years is a great achievement and shows the powerful effect the National Trading Standards Scams Team is having. However, we know our work is not done. Criminal scammers are targeting some of the most vulnerable people in society - ripping them off in many cases for thousands of pounds. We are going to continue in our fight to protect consumers and we urge you to help us by reporting suspected cases of postal fraud to the Royal Mail.”

The call to action comes as National Trading Standards and the Royal Mail continue their joint initiative to train post men and women recognise the tactics used by mail scammers and to identify potentially vulnerable households. This week saw training sessions take place at Royal Mail delivery offices across the UK and more than 2000 post men and women have been trained to date, resulting in over 70 households being helped to avoid falling prey to mail scammers.

The NTSST works with over 30 partners who all help to identify the silent victims of scams. The NTSST pass all the victim intelligence to local Trading Standards who work directly with scam victims, helping to raise awareness and educate victims about scams and showing them how to safeguard themselves in future. One example includes an elderly lady from Wales who – having previously been repeatedly scammed which depleted her life savings – has now stopped responding to scam mail, resulting in a considerable financial saving to her (more information below).

Louise Baxter, Team Manager of the National Trading Standards Scams Team said:

“Since 2012 we’ve supported more than 20,000 consumers who have been deceived by mail scams, saving millions of pounds in consumer detriment as well as providing emotional support to help safeguard vulnerable victims. We will continue our work with partners like Royal Mail and local Trading Standards teams to disrupt criminal mass marketing scams. We really need the public to help us with this – by being vigilant about mass marketing scams themselves but also looking out for relatives or neighbours, particularly those who are elderly or vulnerable. We often find victims who have lost £100,000s over several years; the impact on individuals and consumers is devastating.

“I would urge anyone who receives potentially fraudulent mail or who knows someone who might be receiving it to report it to the Royal Mail helpline on 03456 113413 or to email scam.mail@royalmail.com.”

Reports to Citizens Advice show that two in five of all postal scams are lotteries or prize draws, inviting people to claim a prize for a competition they haven’t entered. One caller to Citizens Advice reported that a relative had been repeatedly targeted with prize draw scams, parting with more than £10,000 in fees to claim a prize that didn’t exist.

For more information on National Trading Standards and its teams please visit http://www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/. For more information on Scams Awareness Month – which is being led by Citizens Advice – and to download campaign materials and resources, please visit https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/campaigns/current_campaigns/scams-awareness-month/scams-awareness-month/.

-ENDS-

For more information about this case please contact the National Trading Standards communications team on 020 7025 7570 or e-mail nationaltradingstandards@grayling.com.

* Figure based on funds stopped from reaching criminals, returned to consumers and predicted savings figures from local authorities.

** All figures from National Trading Standards Scams Team correct as of June 2015.