Get tough on scams, Citizens Advice tells internet, post and phone service providers

13-11-2007

Internet providers, postal services and telephone companies should be doing more to help stamp out scams and bring the culprits to book, Citizens Advice said today.

The national charity warns that as people’s shopping habits change and more transactions are carried out over the phone, by mail order and online, rogues are increasingly using these channels to target users with scams costing UK consumers an estimated £3.5 billion a year.*

As the Trading Standards Institute’s national consumer week** gets underway, Citizens Advice is calling on providers of internet, mail and phone services to pull the plug on scams, and to help the enforcement authorities trace the perpetrators.

It homes in on three common scams regularly reported to Citizens Advice Bureaux:

• Letters containing a huge mock cheque saying you have won a big prize and asking you to send a fee so it can be processed
• Phone calls congratulating you on your winnings and milking you for more and more fees
• Email scams asking you to confirm your account details

Citizens Advice consumer affairs policy officer Susan Marks said:

“Internet service providers, postal and telephone services could all be doing more to police their own environment better.  We want to see them working together and joining forces with the enforcement agencies to find ways to stamp out scams that make use of their networks to con their customers.

“Scamsters are clever and trained to convince the people they target.  They often help cover their tracks by persuading victims not to tell anyone.”

In one recent case, a 70 year old visually impaired CAB client lost £100 making premium rate calls on a number he had to ring to collect fictitious ‘prizes’ he was told he had won in a series of letters.  He had also sent £20 in ‘fees’.

In another case, a CAB client was so convinced the winnings he was claiming on the internet were real that he was prepared to use savings and to borrow to pay what seemed like insignificant fees compared to the prize money of £1.5 million.  The upfront fees were almost £2,000

Not only are people conned out of their savings, they also face the spectre of identity theft.  

For example an 84 year old CAB client received a cheque in the post for 11,000 euros, claiming to be winnings from a Spanish lottery.  Her bank later notified her that the cheque was false and that the bank details she had provided to claim the money had allowed the scamsters to withdraw £7,000 from her account.  She is now in debt.

“If something looks too good to be true, it probably is,” Susan Marks warned “Remember you can’t win a prize if you didn’t enter a competition, and you can’t win the lottery if you didn’t buy a ticket. Never pay money up front – if you really have won something any fees can be deducted from your winnings. We would urge people to get their own back and make sure they report scams.  If you are not sure who to complain to, get advice from Consumer Direct or your local CAB.”

*OFT research, February 2007.

**This year’s National Consumer Week, organised by the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) and supported by Consumer Direct and local authority trading standards services across the country, launches on Monday (NOV 12). It seeks to raise awareness of online rights, responsibilities and potential pitfalls under the theme: “Shopping from Afar? Know What Your Rights Are!”

Notes to editors:

1. The Citizens Advice service is a network of independent charities that helps people resolve their money, legal and other problems by providing information and advice and by influencing policymakers. For more information in England and Wales www.citizensadvice.org.uk
2. The advice provided by the Citizens Advice service is free, independent, confidential, and impartial, and available to everyone regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.
3. Most Citizens Advice service staff are trained volunteers, working at over 3,300 locations across England and Wales.
4. Advice and information www.adviceguide.org.uk
5. Volunteer hotline 08451 264264 (local rate)
6. Citizens Advice Guide to your rights, second edition: January 2008 - over 600 pages of practical, independent CAB advice. An invaluable resource for any bookshelf - available from all good bookshops; price £11.99; ISBN: 9780141034089
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