Warwickshire residents are being encouraged to participate in this year’s Scamnesty ‘scam mail amnesty’ campaign.
Warwickshire County Council Trading Standards are supporting Scamnesty 2022 and urging residents to send any unwanted scam and nuisance mail that they receive into the National Trading Standards (NTS) Scams Team completely free of charge.
Postal scams are letters sent with the goal of obtaining your money using deception or fraud.
There are many different types of scam mail including:
- fake lotteries or prize draws
- fake psychics
- bogus health cures
- investment scams
Health-based scams might contain scientific terms like “glucose metabolism” or “thermogenesis”. This jargon is used to mislead or confuse consumers.
Investment scams may promise huge returns for investing in unregulated products such as fine wine, land and rare earth metals or certain mini-bonds and crypto currencies.
Lottery and sweepstake scams say you've won a large amount of money. They may tell you to keep it a secret and pressure you to respond quickly.
Criminals will make scam mail personal and address you by name to make it feel as if you’ve been specially selected to receive the mailing.
Where to send your scam mail
Send scam mail (no need for a stamp) to:
NTSST
FREEPOST
MAIL MARSHALS
Warwickshire County Councillor Andy Crump, Portfolio Holder for Community Safety said:
“In promoting this national campaign we want to raise awareness of postal scams, encourage conversations with family and friends about bogus mail and help protect vulnerable people.
“By sending your scam mail to the National Scams Team you will be helping them to disrupt the activities of postal scammers and help prevent these bogus letters landing on people’s doorsteps.”
Spotting a Postal Scam
If you can tick off one or more of the following in any suspicious post you've received, it’s probably a scam:
- Bad spelling or poor grammar
- A request out of the blue asking for money
- You’re asked to pay up front to receive what’s on offer, for example to receive a prize
Become a Friend Against Scams
Friends Against Scams aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering communities to ‘Take a Stand Against Scams.’
ANYBODY can become a Friend Against Scams and make a difference in their own way. You can attend a face-to-face training session or complete an online awareness session.
If you want to become a Friend Against Scams, and spread the word about scams in your local community, visit: https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/become-a-friend.
For more information about the campaign, visit: https://www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/Scamnesty.