Over the next couple of weeks the Trading Standards team wants to help reduce the risk and impact of scams by raising awareness and encouraging local residents to take action by recognising, reporting and talking about scams.

Scams aren’t just a minor inconvenience. Apart from financial loss, they can also cause distress, misery and even if a scam has been avoided, it can still lead to a widespread loss of consumer confidence. They can also happen to anyone!

Scams are becoming more sophisticated and often use social engineering to prey on people. This means that many more of us could be vulnerable to falling victim to a scam attempt, yet we still don’t talk about scams enough. In a recent survey, 75% of the people targeted by a scam did not tell anyone about it.

It’s estimated that only 13% of all fraud incidents are actually reported, yet it is thought that £10billion is lost each year to scams and fraud.

Whether a victim or not, reporting and sharing a scam experience may help prevent others from falling victim and also help authorities to raise awareness and tackle these crimes.

If you ever suspect a scam, please tell your family, friends and neighbours all about it!

You can also report suspected scams to us by calling on 03454 04 05 06