Don’t miss a trick - Scams Awareness Month 2018

Highland Council’s Trading Standards team will be supporting national Scams Awareness Month during June.

The national campaign is being organised by Citizens Advice and is about creating a network of confident, alert consumers who ‘don’t miss a trick’ when it comes to scams.

Each week of this year’s campaign will focus on different demographic groups and the scams most likely to target and affect those groups with the aim of raising awareness to protect themselves by recognising, reporting and talking about the issues.

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

Highland Council Trading Standards will be issuing a series of tips on social media to try and help people learn the tricks and tactics scammers use to try and steal people’s money, such as making contact out of the blue and piling pressure on people to agree to a deal on the spot.

Highlanders are urged to report scams so that fraudsters can be stopped and prevent others from falling victim. 

Mark McGinty, Trading Standards Team Leader, said:

“Spam emails, ‘suspicious activity’ alerts from your bank, news stories about data breaches; unfortunately, scams and fraud seem to have become part of our daily lives. 

"Scams Awareness Month is an annual opportunity for Trading Standards and its many partners to tackle these cruel crimes and raise awareness to help protect those most at risk.

"Scams are becoming highly sophisticated and often use social engineering to prey on people.  This means that many more of us could be vulnerable to falling victim, and yet we don’t talk enough about scams.  Speaking out about your experience removes the stigma surrounding scams and you’ll realise you are not alone.

"If you or someone you know has been scammed, please report it to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06 and Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.  If you have paid for goods or services by credit card you have more protection and if you used a debit card you may be able to ask your bank for a charge back.”

Find out about types of scams and how to spot and report scams on the Citizens Advice Scotland website at https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/scotland/sam2018/