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'Scamnesty' scheme hailed a success
A CAMPAIGN which was set up to prevent people from being conned out of cash by fraudsters has been hailed a success.
More than 100 scam letters and other mailings were dropped into a bin at Hartlepool Civic Centre by members of the public during February's "Scamnesty" – a joint initiative between Hartlepool Council's Trading Standards Team and the Office of Fair Trading.
The mailings are now being analysed to try to track down where they originated from, and help prevent similar scams in the future.
Michael Welsh, the council's principal trading standards officer, said: "We're delighted with the response and would like to thank everyone who took part.
"The mailings and letters are from all over the world and are generally based around one basic ruse – they claim that the recipient has won a competition prize.
"They either ask the person to send off a payment to cover 'administrative' costs or they request the person's bank details to pay the prize."
Every year, three million people fall victim to scams, losing on average 380 each.
Mr Welsh added: "Invariably, once a person responds to one of these scam mailings, they are then inundated with other similar letters.
"They keep on sending payments and getting nothing in return, and more often than not they don't tell their families until it's too late."
"In one Hartlepool case we're aware of, the person is receiving between ten and 20 scam letters a day and the person's family is still having a hard time persuading them that they haven't won anything.
"In another case, a scam letter was sent to a person who had been dead for three years."
Although the "Scamnesty" bin was aimed primarily at fraud mailings, Mr Welsh is keen to highlight similar cons being carried out by telephone and e-mail.
He added: "The best rule to remember is if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
For more advice call the national consumer organisation Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or Hartlepool Trading Standards on (01429) 523362.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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