Scam Awareness Month continues and this week, Coventry Trading Standards are focusing on mail scams where fraudsters contact their victims by letter to try to trick them into parting with cash.

Criminals worldwide are hunting down the most fragile members of our society by ‘working’ from mailing lists which categorise people as vulnerable in some way. Everyone is at risk but those listed as living alone, not having internet access or any way of being informed about scams or how to report them are their preferred targets. They are usually contacted by letter to try to trick them into parting with cash. 

Those who respond end up having their details put on what criminals call ‘suckers lists’ which are then sold to other scammers all over the world. This can result in 100+ scam letters a day being delivered to someone which can have a devastating effect on the recipient.

These scams typically carry many of the same traits; the need for confidentiality - keeping the scam a secret between recipient of the letter and the scammer; to give credibility to the letter it often uses names or places having some commonality with the recipient, and an immediate response is often required to ensure the victim does not have a chance to think about their actions. Many letters bear UK stamps however in most cases the letters are sent in bulk into the UK and then posted on to its intended recipient at a lesser rate.

Our advice: never respond to mailings which request personal information or money to claim a prize or money no matter what the reasons given.

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Many organisations (including councils) collect and sell information about you. To reduce the amount of junk and scam mail you receive, follow these tips: 

• Avoid filling in marketing surveys or questionnaires. Junk/scam mailers buy this information to send unwanted post, junk e-mails and make telephone calls. Some traders might even make doorstep visits.
• Don't respond to any unwanted letters, e-mails or telephone calls. This will only encourage them (and others that they share your information with), to send more.
• Remove your name and address from www.192.com. Use form: 'C01 record correction form' available from their website.  192.com is one of the principal UK directories used by companies to get names, addresses and telephone numbers.
• Register with the Mailing Preference Service to cut down on unwanted direct mail that is addressed to you: visit www.mpsonline.org.uk or phone 0845 703 4599.
• Your Choice service blocks post that is not specifically addressed to you. Visit their website www.mpsonline.org.uk/mpsr/yourchoice  or telephone 020 7291 3300
• The Royal Mail also has an ‘opt out’ scheme through which you can choose not to have materials, such as those addressed to "The Occupier" envelopes, put through the door. Visit the Royal Mail website: www.royalmail.com and search for ‘OPT OUT SERVICE’.However, doing so may prevent you from receiving important mail from the Government.
• When you fill out your annual electoral registration form, choose for your details NOT to be added to the 'Edited Electoral Register' (sold for marketing purposes).  
• Whenever you give your name, address or e-mail to an organisation, for instance when you buy a product or service, always tick the opt out boxes to say that you don't want any further information from them and you don't want your details shared with 'carefully selected' third parties.

The National Trading Standards Scams Team have produced a diagram to demonstrate how scam mail reaches so many people - The Sinister Path of Scam Mail

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Trading Standards are advising residents that there have been reports of a company cold calling consumers offering to service Dyson vacuum cleaners. The inference is that they are working on behalf of Dyson.

Dyson have confirmed that this is not the case and a genuine Dyson engineer will only visit you if you have pre-arranged a visit through the Dyson Contact Centre.

Read the full advice from Dyson on this matter.

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Trading Standards are issuing a warning after a resident in Spon End received a telephone call from someone claiming to be calling from the Citizens Advice Bureau. The call was being made from a mobile number which immediately made the resident suspicious, and when personal information was requested with a view to offering debt advice, the resident hung up.

The Citizens Advice Bureau would not make this kind of approach to any resident and certainly would not ask for personal information to be divulged.

We would advise that if any resident receives a similar call, do NOT give out any personal information, and hang up on the call. We are anxious for people not to be caught out, so please be on your guard for this or any other bogus caller.

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Earlier this week, Trading Standards issued a ‘Holiday Scam Alert’ Special. One of the articles advised of the importance of ensuring the company you book with is a member of an official trade body such as Abta or ATOL

Unfortunately, customers who booked their holiday with online travel agency, Lowcostholidays, which collapsed on 15 July 2016 are now realising why.

Lowcostholidays didn't have an Air Travel Organiser's Licence (ATOL), because in 2013 it relocated its business to Spain.

Under the UK Civil Aviation Authority's ATOL protection scheme, if you book a flight with accommodation and/or car hire, or in some cases a flight on its own, with a UK travel firm, if the firm that organises your travel goes bust you can continue your holiday if abroad or get a refund if still in the UK.

The company had taken out a ‘limited warranty’ with Govern de les Illes Balears, the Spanish local authority regulator. According to published information on the website, this was just €1.2 million (around £1 million at current exchange rates) which was set aside to compensate customers who booked both flights and accommodation.

Divided between all 140,000 affected customers, this would amount to a meagre £7 per booking.

If your booking was made by credit card and cost £100 or more (even if you put just 1p of it on a credit card), under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, credit card firms are jointly liable with retailers if something goes wrong – such as a firm going bust – meaning you may be able to get a refund from the card provider. The Civil Aviation Society (CAA) have produced a useful letter confirming the business was not ATOL protected to be used in any such claim.

Money Saving Expert has also issued some useful guidance and advice for all affected customers.

Read the full Holiday Scam Alert Special.

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