Campaign to tackle junk mail con tricks

Trading Standards officers in Staffordshire are supporting a nationwide campaign which aims to help end the scourge of mass marketed scam mailings in the UK.

Scamnesty 2010 will see the county council work with the Office of Fair Trading throughout February to raise awareness of the con tricks.

Around one in 11, just over four million, adults say they have responded to a scam at some time in their life, of whom nearly a third lost money. In the last 12 months two million adults have responded to a scam involving deceptive unsolicited mailings, phone calls, or emails which are designed to con victims out of their cash.

This year's Scamnesty calls on Staffordshire residents to fight back against the fraudsters by collecting any scam mailings they have received and dropping them into the designated Scamnesty bins located in eight of the county's libraries in Newcastle, Leek, Stafford, Burton upon Trent, Tamworth, Lichfield, Cannock and Codsall during February.

County councillor Ben Adams, cabinet member for communities and culture, officially launched Scams Awareness Month at the Safer Stafford Shop in the town's Guildhall Shopping Centre.

Councillor Adams said: "It is often the most vulnerable members of society who become victims of scammers, and the scammers themselves are becoming more sophisticated in the ways in which they target victims.

"We are seeing more and more scam emails in the form of fake messages from banks and building societies, bogus lottery wins and psychic predictions. These are alongside the traditional postal scams that continue to drop through people's doors on a daily basis.

"The aim of this month's activities is to raise awareness of scamming amongst all Staffordshire residents.

"The Scamnesty bins will provide valuable new intelligence to help inform future investigations and prevent others being scammed, whilst the activities we are undertaking with Staffordshire libraries will help to raise awareness amongst older and vulnerable people in particular about the scams message and the dangers of responding to them."

Anyone who thinks they may have been the victim of a scam, or suspect a con, should call Consumer Direct for advice on 08454 04 05 06 or log on to www.consumer direct.gov.uk/scamnesty