Consumer Campaigns

SCAM Awareness

28 million people are targeted by scams every year in Britain and the sophistication of these means that it is not only the most vulnerable, such as the elderly and the needy, who end up on someone's 'sucker list'. It pays to take a closer look at that 'winning' prize notification or that lucrative foreign money offer that pops into your inbox. Scammers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their approaches and aim to exploit everyone.

Scam artists can be hard to spot as they generally sound pleasant, well spoken and kind, and they act like they want to be your friend. They are also skilled in the arts of persuasion and can be extremely persistent. Typically they will be letting you know (via phone, email, post or even in person) that you've won a prize or stand to make a lot of money if you do what they say. The tell tale signs of a scam are if they ask you for money up front, ask for your bank or other personal details, ask you to ring a premium rate phone number or buy something to get your prize.

To combat this scam culture, throughout February, the Office of Fair Trading ( OFT ) and its partners are campaigning to highlight scams and to make people aware that there is a scam out there for everyone. There is a quiz on the OFT 's website that illustrates - in an entertaining way - some of the common stings and how to avoid them.