Global day of action to beat mass market scams
1 June 2010
People in the UK lose an estimated £3.5 billion every year to mass market fraud - from romance frauds and fake lotteries to share frauds and inheritance scams - and the frauds are getting more plausible and more complex as criminals try to stay one step ahead of public awareness and the law.
That’s why organisations here in the UK, as well as the USA, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands, have joined together to make June 1st 2010 a global day of action and awareness to fight back against the criminals behind the scams.
SOCA has written today to around 200 people across the UK warning them that they were the targets of a mail fraud from Ghana. A scam letter addressed to each person was seized last week, before it could reach its victim, as part of SOCA’s international effort to cut off the routes the criminals use.
The message today from SOCA, the National Fraud Authority, the Office of Fair Trading, the Metropolitan Police, the City of London Police, the Serious Fraud Office and the Financial Services Authority is two-fold:
If you have been a victim, speak up about it. This is serious organised crime and the criminals want you to keep quiet. Don’t help them succeed. Contact Action Fraud to report fraud or get advice.
If you think this is something that can’t affect you, think again. Many of us look at the sort of frauds that affect other people and feel confident we would never fall for them. But serious organised criminals are endlessly inventive and the UK is worth £3.5 billion to them every year through mass market fraud – they don’t want to give that up. Once people get wise to one scam, criminals will switch to something else.
Types of fraud
Fraudsters boast that they have a scam for everyone – it’s just a question of finding someone’s weak spot. Click here for an overview of some of the common types of mass market fraud.
There is lots of advice available to avoid becoming a victim in the first place, and support for those who suspect that they may already have fallen victim to fraud:
- Don’t stay silent. If you’ve been targeted by a fraudster and lost money, contact Action Fraud at www.actionfraud.org.uk or freephone 0300 123 2040
- Remember - if you haven’t entered a competition, you won’t have won a prize
- Ask questions - If someone is legitimate they won’t pressurise you or be elusive
- Never provide money upfront
- Be very wary about giving your personal information to strangers
- Look out for bad spelling and grammar, they are often a sign of a fraudulent organisation
- Remember that websites can be faked too, and that someone may claim to work for a well known company. Always check the real company’s details against the ones you have been given, and ring them direct if you are in doubt
Other help and information
Many people don't realise they have been or continue to be victims, particularly the elderly. Support and information for the families of victims is available from Think Jessica.
Mass market fraud doesn’t just exploit the postal service. A lot of it is delivered direct to people’s inboxes via email. Advice on using the internet safely is available from Get Safe Online.
The International Mass Marketing Fraud Working Group, made up of members from the UK, USA, Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Netherlands, and Nigeria, has published a Threat Assessment of mass market fraud.
Visit our Protecting Yourself pages for more.