Local MP Maria Miller is supporting Citizens Advice 2021 Scams Awareness campaign. Running from 14-27 June, the fortnight aims to empower constituents in Basingstoke to ‘Be Scam Aware’ and know what they should do if they see a scam.
Citizens Advice research found that more than two-thirds of people in the UK have been targeted by a scam since the start of the year
- This includes 2 in 3 people (65%) in South East
- The number of scams reported to Citizens Advice since the start of the year has more than doubled compared to the same time period last year
This annual campaign is all about creating a network of confident, #ScamAware consumers who are able to recognise a scam, report it to the appropriate agency and talk about their experiences to help raise public awareness of scams.
The coronavirus pandemic has made it even more important to empower the public to protect themselves against scams. Last year,saw an increase in scams relating to coronavirus as fraudsters tried to take advantage of all the uncertainty of the pandemic. As the country moves towards economic recovery, scams continue to be a prevalent issue, with scammers seeking to exploit the fall out of the pandemic.
Maria said, “Spam emails, ‘suspicious activity’ alerts from your bank, news stories about data breaches – unfortunately, scams and fraud seem to have become part of our daily lives. They can and do affect anyone – It’s important to always keep an eye out for scams.
I welcome Citizens Advice #ScamAware campaign and urge all Basingstoke constituents to get involved to make sure that they are #ScamAware and have the knowledge they need to recognise scams, so they can protect themselves and those around them.”
For further information and resources visit 2021 Scams Awareness campaign.