Projects and initiatives
SCAMNESTY campaign
SCAMNESTY and is a national campaign organised by the Office of Fair Trading and the Serious Crime Squad at Scotland Yard. It is supported in Wandsworth by the Trading Standards and Community Safety teams and the Police. The campaign aims to tackle the rising problem of scam letters. Now an annual campaign, in 2010 it ran from 1 - 26 February.
During the campaign if you receive a scam letter please deposit it in one of the many places around the borough that we have SCAMNESTY bins - in 2010 these places included the Town Hall, all the borough libraries, the Age Concern shop in Tooting, the Randall Close Day Centre and the Shopmobilty office next to Sainsbury's on Garratt Lane in Wandsworth town centre. The information and intelligence gathered is used by Trading Standards and the Police for them to take further action.
What is a scam letter?
Have you received a letter telling you that you've won the Spanish Lottery or an unexpected prize draw? Well, sadly you haven't - it's a scam!
These letters come in many forms but really they are only after one thing - you money. Some may try and get your bank details as well. It is big business and there are many criminals making huge amounts of money from them. Over three million people in the UK lose money to mass marketed scams such as bogus lotteries every year.
So how do they work and how do scammers make money?
Typical scams may:
- Require you to buy something to receive a 'prize'.
- Offer you a winning ticket or a prize in an overseas draw or lottery in return for (and here is the scam), an 'administration' or 'registration fee'. This is how they make their money - they take the 'administration fee' and you never get the winnings.
More often than not there is no prize or reward on offer. Anything that is 'won' is usually sub-standard, overpriced or misleadingly described and worth less than the requested fee.
How can I avoid becoming a victim of a scam?
Remember these points:
- Ask yourself 'How could I win a lottery prize if I haven't bought a ticket?'
- If you win something, you shouldn't have to pay anything to receive your prize.
- Once you respond to these people you go on what is called a 'scammers list' and you will be inundated with letters.
- If you are asked to respond on a premium rate telephone number remember these can be very expensive.
It won't happen to me!
You may be thinking 'I am not silly enough to fall for these scams', but thousands of people in this country do every day. Check out http://www.thinkjessica.com/: Jessica lost over £30,000 to the scammers and was receiving over 30 letters a day. Her daughter set up the website to try and help other victims and stop others becoming victims.
