Web tool helps target scammers
Kable
Published: 18 Feb 2008 09:57 GMT
Consumer Direct's website has a new tool to enable the three million victims of marketing scams to report their experiences.
The government's consumer advice service has added a reporting function to its website to help in the fight against mass-marketed scams.
Members of the public will be able to record details of the type of scam that they have encountered, to provide information on the potential scammers and to add any further information they feel may be of use to the authorities.
Every time someone submits a form, it will be recorded on Consumer Direct's database and made available to local authority trading standards services and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to help them tackle persistent scammers.
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Research by the OFT suggests that three million consumers in the UK fall victim to scams every year and lose an estimated £3.5bn. Fewer than five percent of the victims report scams to the authorities, however.
Greg South, operations manager for Consumer Direct, said: "In the past, people who have been targeted by scammers via the post, phone or internet may have felt unsure about how they could help, but this new online form will enable them to provide vital intelligence to the enforcement community."
The Consumer Direct website also has information on how to spot scams currently circulating in the UK, including bogus foreign lotteries, pyramid-selling schemes, miracle cures and investment scams.
The scams reporting launch coincided with Scams Awareness Month, an annual initiative organised by the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network. In the UK, Scams Awareness Month is supported by consumer organisations including the OFT, local authority trading standards services, Consumer Direct and the Advertising Standards Authority.
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