This year’s Scams Awareness Month is to take place in June.
Scams Awareness Month is an annual campaign which aims to alert the public of the crimes that affect millions of people.
This year’s campaign aspires to encourage people to report scams, and de-stigmatise being scammed. The proposed theme is “Don’t Miss A Trick, Be Scam Aware”.
Scams are a growing problem.
In the latest year figures from the Crime Survey England and Wales (year to September ’17), there has been a 7% increase in the number of fraud offences recorded in England and Wales compared with the previous year.
The recorded figure totalled 662,519.
There has been an increase year-on-year over the last five years. This is largely owed to offences reported to Action Fraud. Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime.
The year’s event will launch to media on 1 June, with an official launch by the Minister at the CTSI Symposium on 4 June.
Further details on the campaign will be available in the coming weeks via https://www.tradingstandards.uk/news-policy/scams-awareness-month-2018.
Sources: https://www.tradingstandards.uk/news-policy/scams-awareness-month-2018, https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/campaigns/current_campaigns/scams-awareness-month/sam18/