In this section

Some common scams

Scams

Introduction

According to research by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), every year 3.2 million adults in the UK fall victim to a scam involving deceptive unsolicited mailings, phone calls or e-mails. Scams cost the UK consumer around £3.5 billion per annum.

Behind these figures lie often heartbreaking tales about people being robbed of their entire life savings, while being too embarrassed to tell anyone about it. These pages tell you how you can protect yourself from becoming the victim of a scam, how scams work and what you should do if you suspect a scam or have fallen victim to one.

Throughout this section we will emphasize that it is important to contact Consumer Direct if you suspect a scam or if you fallen victim to one. Consumer Direct is a government funded advice service for everyone to use. They will be able to give you clear and practical information:

08454 04 05 06
www.consumerdirect.gov.uk

On the Consumer Direct website you can also report a scam. Consumer Direct passes information received via their report service on to Trading Standards and the Office of Fair Trading for action.

https://secure.consumerdirect.gov.uk/reportascam.aspx

Further information

Consumer Direct also has a wealth of information about scams on their website:

www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/watch_out

Scams are a priority for the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and the OFT website also contains some information on scams:

www.oft.gov.uk/oft_at_work/consumer_initiatives/scams/

In addition, the OFT has published a number of useful leaflets on scams:

How to recognise a scam? (PDF, 500Kb)
As you would expect, this leaflet tells you what to watch out for.

Scambuster: your guide to beating the scammers (PDF, 789Kb)
This leaflet describes some of the most common scams and tells you how to protect yourself against them.

Can you stop the person you care for from being scammed? (PDF, 532Kb)
This is a guide for carers and care professionals who suspect someone they care for is being scammed.

Don't let them con you (PDF, 190Kb)
This is a two-page leaflet for elderly people about scams. It gives information about how to recognise scams and tells you what you should do if you suspect you are being conned.