TCA recently assisted Trading Standards who were helping a couple in their eighties who had fallen victim to a timeshare related scam to the tune of over £25,000. Trading Standards, much like TCA find this sort of fraud obnoxious, fraud is bad enough but to perpetrate this crime against octogenarians is downright despicable, the lowest of the low.
In June last year the Daily Mail published a report on the state of fraud related crime in the UK, below is a graphic used to reveal the extent:
According to these statistics a staggering 60% of all estimated crime in the UK was fraud or computer based. The most frightening statistic revealed is that £997m was stolen from those over 70, the very sector of our society that can ill afford to be victims of fraud.
The UK Government have at last acted by the creation of the Public Sector Fraud Authority (PSFA). As this is early days we cannot second guess how effective this body will be or exactly how it will operate. The unit will cost £ 11 million to run in its first year but has a target of recovering £180m worth of fraud. ‘That’s a very good return on spending,’ said Mr Rees-Mogg during his tenure as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. £180m is certainly a start in the right direction but pales into insignificance against the Mails reported £2.4bn UK total.
National Trading Standards
In response, National Trading Standards have created a scam team whose job it is to assist those who have fallen victim to scams. Much like TCA, Trading Standards would far rather prevent scams and fraud than try to repair the damage after the event, but acknowledging that after the event is probably where most assistance is needed and can be given.
Being proactive, Trading Standards have produced a comprehensive guide entitled the Reimbursement Tool Kit. This guide covers the actions you should take if you have been the victim of a scam or fraud. Running to eight pages, apart from solid guidance and template letters to send to your bank, there are also many active links to Action Fraud, Citizens Advice and other organisations who may be able to offer assistance.
We strongly recommend you download a copy and keep it handy. Naturally, both TCA and Trading Standards would rather you didn’t need the assistance contained in the guide, as you haven’t fallen victim, however, with all sorts of fraud on the increase, don’t think it won’t happen to you. Below is a download link: Reimbursement Tool Kit Download
TCA comment
Prevention is better than cure. Whilst we appreciate that the most vulnerable sector of our society, senior citizens, may not possess the skills to use the internet to carry out their own investigations and due diligence, all have younger relatives who can assist, don’t be scared or embarrassed to ask for help. By whatever means available, make sure you thoroughly investigate any contact you receive, normally unsolicited, before committing to whatever is on offer especially if there is a demand for payment.
We now know that trading standards are on your side and would be only too pleased to stop fraud rather than attempt to repair the damage caused, if nothing else, for research purposes, a call to your local Trading Standards office could be a good first point of contact. The Trading Standards website has the facility to input your postcode to find your local office. A link to their website may be found here.
TCA are of course specialists in investigating and exposing fraud related specifically to timeshare, this being the case, if you receive unsolicited contact by phone or email relating to anything timeshare, call us and we will investigate for you.
We said above that prevention is better than cure and we stand by that. Treat every unsolicited contact with suspicion because in 9 out of 10 occurrences, there is a scam or fraud just waiting to happen, don’t become yet another government statistic. We will once again repeat:
NO ONE EVER LOST MONEY BY PUTTING THE PHONE DOWN ON A COLD CALLER
For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk