The Office of Fair Trading is launching a "Scamnesty" to help combat mass-marketed fraud and scams aiming to dupe people into parting with cash. More than 4 million Britons admit to having responded to a scam sent via email, letter or text - and a third of them say they have lost money.
Email is the most common way for scammers to contact potential victims - 73% of those surveyed say they'd had a spam email in the last year. And social networking sites are a growth area for scam activity - 9% of respondents had received a scam message that way.
The OFT say 'Scammers are using ever more sophisticated and cunning tactics to dupe people out of their cash. We want people to recognise the warning signs, and feel confident enough to seek advice from friends and family or from Consumer Direct.'
Their five tips to keep yourself safe are great advice, and particularly so for rental scams where the amounts involved can be so much larger:
- Stop, think and be sceptical. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is.
- Do not be rushed into sending off money to someone you do not know, however plausible they might sound and even where an approach is personalised.
- Ask yourself how likely it is that you have been especially chosen for this offer - thousands of other people will probably have received the same offer.
- Think about how much money you could lose from replying to a potential scam - it's not a gamble worth taking.
- If you are unsure of an offer, speak to family or friends and seek advice from Consumer Direct before sending any money or giving out any banking or credit card details [or handing over any cash].
You can find out more, and report scam correspondence, via the Scamnesty website.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tessa Shepperson, Upad.co.uk. Upad.co.uk said: New blog post: OFT launches Scams Awareness Month http://www.upad.co.uk/blog/2010/02/oft-launches-scams-awareness-month/ [...]