Mail con artist clampdown in Herts saves residents £500k

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Mail con artist clampdown in Herts saves residents £500k

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Trading standards officers from Hertfordshire County Council led an investigation which prevented £500,000 getting into the hands of con artists.

Our staff worked with two Herts-based businesses and the national Trading Standards scams team to track down and close mailbox facilities used by companies from abroad involved in illegal scam mailings.

A large number of mailbags containing orders and cheques were seized, which are being returned to the consumers involved, along with advice on how to protect themselves against future mailings.

It is estimated that this has stopped nearly £500,000 going to the companies involved, which cannot be named while investigations are underway.

May is "scams awareness month", in which 400 people in the county suspected of being victims of scams have received support and advice

They include prize draws, lotteries, catalogues with goods at hugely inflated prices, and mailshots from clairvoyants.

Cllr Richard Thake, Herts County Council's cabinet member for community safety, said: “Consumers are targeted very carefully, often by companies based abroad.

"Once they respond, their details are sold on to other companies to exploit. This results in some people receiving up to 50 items of mail daily.

“Our trading standards officers have been removing sack loads of mail from some addresses to help consumers get their money back, and to help them get out of the cycle of sending money off to these scams.”

Louise Baxter, manager of the national Trading Standards scams team, said it was working with a range of partners, including Trading Standards to tackle this problem.

She added: "We want to make it impossible for the scammers to operate here.

"This is an international crime affecting millions of people and we need to do something about it."

Trading Standards are asking consumers to look out for signs of their family or friends responding to these scams including large amounts of mail every day or frequent trips to the post office to buy stamps and to post replies.

If you are concerned about someone and would like some help please contact Hertfordshire Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 08454 040506 or visit http://www.hertdirect.org/tradingstandards" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

[5plusbonusball]

A few people here get them , but they always buy stuff from them so making the problem worse, every now and then a tiny packet will arrive with their worthless consolation prize and with it , a letter promising them they will win big next time!
They ask us to stop posting them but we can't nowadays.