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Joining forces to combat scams

OFT and Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform launch scams awareness month

19/06    1 February 2006

John Fingleton, Chief Executive of the OFT and Gerry Sutcliffe, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Minister for Consumer Affairs, today jointly launched the 2006 scams awareness campaign. The campaign will run throughout February and aims to arm consumers with the knowledge and skills they need to recognise, report and stamp out mass-marketed scams.

See scams section of our website.

Scams awareness month is part of an international initiative organised by the International Consumer Protection Enforcement Network (ICPEN). The OFT has enlisted the support of Trading Standards Departments across the country, as well as Consumer Direct, Which?, the Advertising Standards Authority, ICSTIS and other consumer and industry bodies to help promote the campaign. Highlights include:

• nationwide radio advertising, features and competitions
• web advertising and online quizzes
• distribution of over half a million leaflets on how to spot a scam
• a step-by-step guide on protecting yourself from scams
• first results from the OFT research project into prevalence of scams
• an international internet sweep to identify 'traps online'. 

UK consumers lose an estimated £1 billion per year to such scams (see note 2). Recent research suggests that an estimated 28 million UK consumers are targeted every year by scams which exploit low-cost, mass-marketing techniques - that is, email, text message, post, telephone and internet - to con people out of their money (see note 3). These include deceptive prize draws and lotteries, misleading premium-rate prize promotions, fake 'psychic' mailings, advance fee frauds and bogus work-at-home schemes, among others.

Tackling scams is a key priority area for the OFT. Last year, it launched the Scambusters team and set up the Scams Enforcement Group with partner organisations to drive forward its three-pronged strategy of law enforcement; consumer education; and cooperation with private sector businesses to disrupt scammers' routes to market (see press release 175/05). The OFT also works with partner agencies in over 30 countries to detect and stop cross-border scams (see note 1). From 1 April, Consumer Direct will provide the public with a single contact point for advice on recognising and avoiding scams.

John Fingleton, OFT Chief Executive, said:

'Scams damage individuals and undermine confidence in legitimate marketing techniques, harming fair-dealing businesses. Consumers who lose money to scams have very little chance of getting any of it back. So it is essential that, in addition to enforcing the law against scammers, we equip consumers with the skills and knowledge necessary to avoid falling victim to them in the first place.

'The OFT is leading a broad alliance of organisations committed to that aim. Consumer Direct, which will be available throughout the UK this spring, will further enhance our ability to educate consumers and reduce the economic harm brought about by scams.'

Gerry Sutcliffe, the Minister for Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs, at the Department for Trade and Industry, said:

'The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and OFT work strategically within the UK and internationally to enforce the law and catch the rogues who make people's lives a misery.

'Campaigns like this show how important it is for everyone to know how to spot a scam. They don't just target the gullible and the greedy - in fact a scam artist can fool anyone.'

NOTES

1. ICPEN is a membership organisation comprising the trade practices enforcement authorities of more than 30 countries across all five continents. ICPEN facilitates multi-lateral cooperation between the relevant authorities on cross-border cases. It has been agreed that Scams Awareness Month is to become an annual event - this is the second such campaign. Last year 17 ICPEN members took part. This year over 20 countries will run awareness campaigns.

2. The estimate of the loss to UK consumers is based upon data from a variety of sources. These include PhoneBusters, the Canadian national call centre for reporting telephone scams; seizures from PO boxes by enforcement bodies; complaints to ICSTIS about unexpected premium-rate call charges; and statistics provided by the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Estimates are based on 2004 - 05 figures. The OFT has commissioned research to establish the prevalence of scams and the level of consumer detriment. Full results will be published in the spring.

3. Prevalence figure taken from Which? report Scams: don't get sucked in (January 2006). Early results from OFT research show 59 per cent of the population aged over 15 has been targeted by mass-marketed scams.

4. Current membership of the Scams Enforcement Group includes: regional Trading Standards representatives; the Gaming Board for Great Britain; the Local Authority Coordinators of Regulatory Services; Royal Canadian Mounted Police; Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Companies Investigation Branch; ICSTIS; the National Criminal Intelligence Service; ASA and Ofcom.

5. Some examples of successful OFT enforcement action against scams in the UK and overseas:
Canadian lottery scams: See press release 156/03, 152/04, 155/04, 158/04
Psychic scams: See Morgan T press release 15/06 and Swiss PO Boxes press release 125/04
Prize draw mailings: TV Direct press release 63/04, 208/04, 234/05
Pyramid selling schemes: OMI Club/VIP Club press release 233/05

6. Consumer Direct is a telephone and online consumer advice and information service. Consumers can contact the helpline on 08454 040506 for clear, practical advice, including guidance on suspected scams, and to report scams. The OFT and other enforcers will have access to the Consumer Direct database. The national roll-out of Consumer Direct will be complete by spring 2006.

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