People Power helps Bassetlaw Crack Down on Scams

John Mann MP is calling on constituents to ‘drop in and drop them in it'.

John is supporting the nationwide Scamnesty campaign by the Office of Fair Trading and local authority Trading Standards Services, which aims to help end the scourge of mass marketed scam mailings in the UK.

Nearly half of the UK adult population has been targeted by a scam. Every year, 3.2 million adults-one in fifteen people-across the country fall victim to a scam involving deceptive unsolicited mailings, phone calls or emails, which are designed to con victims out of their cash. UK consumers lose around a staggering £2.5billion to scams every year.

John Mann is calling on the people of Bassetlaw to fight back against the fraudsters by collecting any scam mailings they receive and dropping them into the designated Scamnesty bins located at Queen's Buildings in Worksop, County Contact in Retford, or online at www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/scamnesty.

Mann said "These scams prey on the vulnerable. It is hugely important that people take part in this scheme-passing these details to trading standards means we can stop the scammers in their tracks."

Over the previous two years, residents in nearly 100 local authorities dropped over 20,000 scam mailings in Scamnesty bins across the country. The campaign revealed that the top five mass marketed scam mailings in the UK at the time were: 1) Deceptive sweepstakes; 2) misleading prize draws; 3) fake clairvoyants/psychics; 4) bogus foreign lotteries; and 5) ‘miracle' health cures.