Scams awareness

Mass marketed scams are a priority area for the OFT. Our research indicates that around 3 million UK consumers lose a total of £3.5 billion to scams every year. In 2002, the OFT set up a dedicated Scambuster team to lead the Office's scam prevention and awareness programme.

The scams awareness campaign is a long-term consumer awareness campaign aimed at providing consumers with information and advice on how to identify scams and protect themselves and others.

Publicity is concentrated around the annual scams awareness month in February (the UK's contribution to the ICPEN International Fraud Prevention Month). We also run a number of tactical initiatives through the year targeting specific scams, such as racing tipsters and bogus holiday clubs.

In February 2008, the OFT organised a nationwide Scamnesty, in partnership with over 60 Local Authority Trading Standards Services. Members of the public were asked to collect any potential scam mailings they had received and drop them into designated bins at local libraries and other public areas. The Scamnesty generated around 20,000 mailings, and will be repeated in February 2009.

The OFT also engages in year round work with community groups and other relevant organisations, with a particular focus on reaching the elderly and vulnerable consumers.

See the Scams pages to find out more about how to spot different types of scams.

Click here to report a Scam.

To find out more about the campaign, please contact Claire Procter at claire.procter@oft.gov.uk

Back to: Campaigns