Hello everyone, I hope you are all well and enjoyed the May bank holidays. It seems a long stretch now until the August one but time will fly if you keep up the good work with spreading the scams awareness across your communities. You are doing an amazing job but please take a look at our Five Simple Steps for inspiration to see if there is any more you can do. How many can you manage?
This issue the spotlight is on Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and we bring news of scams prevention on the airwaves and a recent case study where we have supported scam victims.
Enjoy reading! Charlotte
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Many people think Age UK is one large charity with many ‘branches’ across the country. In fact Age UK is a brand. Age UK is a national charity and there are 134 independent partner charities - Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough being one of those. Here Beverley Young, Communications and Campaigns Manager at Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, explains more:
 "We are an independent local charity, meaning we have our own Board of Trustees and raise our own funds to enable the delivery of our local support. We offer a number of services to older people and their carers with the main objective being to support older people to live safely and independently in their own homes. This is where most people want to be.
Our services are grouped into three areas: Information and Advice (I&A), Practical Support and providing Social Opportunities which we deliver across all of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
In 2019/2020 we supported over 23,000 individuals. Our I&A service help in excess of 1,000 enquiries a month and over the past year, during the pandemic, we have made more than 7,100 welfare check phone calls a month. Approximately 500 volunteers make an average additional 1,300 calls a month to help reduce isolation and loneliness.
Many of our service users are at greater risk from scams as they can be seen as an easy target, so our staff and volunteers receive Friends Against Scams training, and we offer support to older victims. We are acutely aware of the significant impact a scam has upon a person and the often devastating consequences. Our services enable us to promote scam awareness amongst the most vulnerable and to spot irregularities, helping us to alert individuals to the risks, provide immediate guidance, and implement support measures.
Would you like to see who we are? This month we have published a photographic exhibition on our website; staff, volunteers and services users have sent photos of themselves and what they have been doing for interest during lockdown. Take a look: make referrals, join our team!"
 Collage of images from the Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough photographic exhibition.
 Cambridgeshire County Council's Community Protection Team recently stepped in to support a couple who had reported being defrauded of over £4000 in a telephone scam.
The victims had received a cold call, claiming to be from Capital Financial Services LLC in New York, with an offer to buy their shares in Centrica at an attractive rate as part of a takeover bid of Centrica.
The couple were convinced to contribute 10% of the £40k deal as a 'Guarantee Purchaser Bond' to cover any losses made by the deal not proceeding.
Community Protection Officers contacted the couple to provide advice about the Contingent Reimbursement Model Code for Authorised Push Payment Scams, a code of practice followed by all the major banks, which the couple were able to use to recover £3000 of the £4020 lost from their bank, despite the money being transferred overseas. The Community Protection Team also obtained a trueCall call blocking device from the National Trading Standards Scams Team and installed it free of charge, setting up a number of trusted callers to get the couple started.
Work is continuing to establish how the bank arrived at a reimbursement rate of 75% rather than the full amount and to pursue this shortfall but all in all this has been a considerable success.
If you know someone who has been the victim of telephone scams or is targeted by scams on the phone and is at increased risk due to cognitive impairments or at risk of slips, trips and falls when getting up to answer the call, please let us know so we can offer practical support. It can give real peace of mind to victims and their loved ones, helping people to stay safe and well in their own homes.
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