Mass scams set to rise

[8 September 2008]

Fraudsters will develop more consumer scams to take advantage of the declining economy, according to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

The OFT have warned that scammers will increasingly try to take advantage of victims' 'financial desperation'by mass marketing more scams. Research suggests that up to 3million people a year have lost money to consumer frauds and that these mass marketing scams have cost victims £3.5billion. The OFT ran a 'Scamnesty' campaign earlier this year, where it encouraged people to take examples of scam mailings to their local libraries, so that it could gain vital information about scams and scammers. Approximately 15,000 example scams were collected and revealed that the most common scams involved bogus sweepstakes, prize-draws, clairvoyants, foreign lotteries and miracle health cures. Some victims have spent thousands of pounds by replying to scam letters. One victim was Jessica Looke from Derby, who died aged 83, having spent £50,000 over the last five years replying to scam letters.

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