Scams are a scourge. We need to tackle them by removing the blame and shame.
A pensioner named Raymond recently addressed a video camera. He talked about a three year period when he received thousands of letters. Each of them proclaimed him a wealthy man, a lottery winner, a lucky winner of prize draws from all over the world.
Raymond, 67 years old and a full time carer for his wife, earnestly followed their instructions. In total, he handed over £3000, in instalments of £20, sometimes £40 so he could receive the prizes.
Raymond couldn’t afford these amounts but he was in pursuit of a win.
It all started with one letter which claimed he’d won a car in a prize draw. Shocked and excited, he paid the requested £5 administrative fee. As the number of letters increased, Raymond continued to respond even though he’d yet to receive his winnings.
At first, Raymond believed the mass-marketed letters. They created a sense of urgency by giving him strict deadlines (usually 7–14 days) by which he needed to respond and demanded administrative fees before his winnings would be released. Even as his suspicions grew, he couldn’t quite release himself from the belief that, surely, just one of those letters might bring him the riches it promised. As well as lottery and prize draws, Raymond received tempting free-trial offers which signed him up to long-term subscriptions that withdrew considerable sums from his bank account on a regular basis.
The most remarkable aspect of his story is not that Raymond lost all that money, or that over a period of a decade his home became a kind of postal depot in his quest. That sadly, is not uncommon in people who, often elderly and socially isolated, find themselves in the thrall and manipulation of scammers. The National Trading Standards Scams Team estimate postal scams are a £10 billion global industry and the charity Think Jessica has campaigned for years to have the state of hyper-credulity induced by scammers recognised as a psychological disorder.
No, the stand-out feature was that Raymond was willing to go before the camera to tell his story. For a range of reasons, whether it be shame, denial, social isolation or ill health to name but a few, people in Raymond’s position rarely get to tell their cautionary tale.
The national news story that followed the release of Raymond’s story on Youtube provided a fresh reminder that even today in a world of sophisticated cyber scams where life savings can be lost bythe touch of a screen, some of the oldest tricks remain the nastiest. For the criminal networks behind mass-marketed postal scams, they can be the most lucrative.
We need to talk more openly about scams
According to Trading Standards, scams and doorstep crime are top issues that need broader public awareness. Overwhelmingly older people are targeted. This is supported by Age UK’s 2015 report that found older people are more vulnerable to doorstep, on-line, postal and phone scams simply because they are more likely to have savings, own their own homes and have private pensions that they can now access from the age of 55. In other words, they have more money. Further evidence is offered by the National Trading Standards Scams Team which put the average age of mail scam victims at 74.
Older victims are often afraid to tell anyone they’ve been scammed. And as the population lives longer, there’s an increase of individuals living alone with cognitive problems like dementia. They particularly worry family and friends will deem them unable to cope and remove their financial independence or place them into care homes earlier. There’s a real stigma attached to scams and older people that can be a huge barrier to getting the issue into the open.
Since 2016 Citizens Advice Bristol have campaigned around scam calls and delivered training and resources to the local community. We found that peer-led support encourages victims to speak out. We encouraged group discussions around people’s experiences of scams: “what if the bank calls to tell me my account has been hacked — is that true?” “A man came to my door and sold me a king size mattress for £300; I never got it.” Group members discussed how they dealt with a scam and between themselves decide on the best approach to adopt. More importantly, they found friends in which they could confide.
The message that you’re not a victim, that the criminals running the scam rings are highly skilled professionals and you’re not to blame, clearly works.
Unfortunately, media and public opinion continues to place the blame on victims for being foolish enough to fall for a scam. This affects, not just older people, but everyone who may have been caught out by a professional scammer.
The risks of misplaced confidence in believing you’d never fall for a scam can actually make you more susceptible as research from Citizens Advice found earlier this year. Hence our message that scams can happen to anyone. It takes only one click of a link within an email, or a fearful response to an unexpected call from your bank to lose £100s or even £1000s. And once an individual responds to one scam, they can face a deluge of further scam letters and calls which can leave victims doubting their own judgments, as can be seen in Raymond’s case.
Tidying up a ten year tangle
Raymond’s personal details were found following a house raid by the National Trading Standards Scams team — he was on one of those offensively-called ‘suckers list,’ which scammers use to target susceptible consumers. Scammers often sell these lists on to other criminals.
Following a referral to Bristol Trading Standards, and subsequent visits from us, Raymond realised that the lotteries and prize draw letters he’d been responding to for over a decade (and becoming increasingly frustrated about hearing nothing back), were all scams.
There were also letters he had responded to that requested personal information like his date of birth and mother’s maiden name — all pointing towards signs of potential credit fraud.
He was keen to get involved in our educational video on postal scams and willing to speak to the media so that “other people could also be helped”.
But he’s not ready to give up the letters.
Raymond eventually told us that £140 every month was being taken from his account. Following advice, he reported it to his bank and Action Fraud and got all this money back. He keeps lists of all the ‘companies’ he has previously sent money to so that he knows future payments to them will be unsuccessful. He didn’t want us to get credit reports to check fraudulent activity in his name although he is keeping an eye on his bank account.
Raymond has been referred to our local Age UK’s befriending service. And because he is a carer for his wife, we put him in touch with a local carers support centre that forms part of the Carers’ Trust in a bid to remove some of the isolation and loneliness that could trigger additional responses to scams.
Bristol Trading Standards continue to make sporadic visits to ensure he recognises all these letters are scams. He sometimes calls us anxiously; a new letter has arrived and all they want is his national insurance number and phone number. We tell him not to answer — he didn’t enter and so how can he have won? Logically it makes sense to Raymond, but the decade-long habit of responding and speaking to these scammers makes it difficult to stop.
Scammers are professionals and anyone can be scammed. We can help.
Every July, the Citizens Advice network promotes Scams Awareness Month — on a grassroots, community level and on a wider, national scale.
Beyond campaigns and media coverage, there are always people who’ve been affected by bad practices and policies, injustices and even criminal activities. Therefore, it’s important that we tackle scams outside of Scams Awareness Month.
We know that scammers will always exploit people’s vulnerabilities and motivations any time of the day, all year round because, after July, the scams remain.
We must continue to let everyone know that scammers are professionals and anyone can be scammed. We find that getting out there to meet affected individuals also works to bring down the stigma.
As an independent, impartial, free and above all confidential advice organisation we can help.
About the author
Ines Lage is the Consumer Empowerment Partnership Co-ordinator at Citizens Advice Bristol. You can contact Citizens Advice Bristol @CABBristol or www.bristolcab.org.uk.
Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline: 03454 04 05 06
Citizens Advice: www.citizensadvice.org.uk
