Scam Mail

Closing the door on scam mail
Medway residents are being asked to help in the battle against scam mail, which affects about three million people a year.
Medway Trading Standards has joined forces with the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) to stop letterboxes being blighted by promises of money, fake competition prizes and holidays from bogus companies. Anyone who receives these types of letters and emails, as well as ones promising miracle health cures and get-rich-quick schemes can drop them into one of five Scamnesty points in Medway.
You can drop your scam mail at the following Scamnesty points until Sunday, 15th February:
ASDA, Maidstone Road, Chatham Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre. Morrisons, Knight Road, Strood. Strood Post Office, North Street. Medway Council offices, Gun Wharf, Dock Road, Chatham. Civic Centre Contact Point Gillingham Library, High Street. Rainham Contact Point Rochester Contact Point, Visitor Information Centre, High Street. Sainsbury’s, Hempstead Valley Shopping Centre. Dockside Outlet Shopping Centre, Chatham Maritime. Gillingham Post Office, WH Smith, High Street, Gillingham. Tesco, Courtney Road, Gillingham. Chatham Post Office, Pentagon Shopping Centre, Chatham.
All letters handed in will be examined by Medway Trading Standards and the OFT to help prevent others from becoming a victim of scam mailings, which are usually sent from international addresses.
Trading Standards officers have also been running surgeries for anyone who is concerned about scam mail.
The campaign is part of February’s Scams Awareness Month to help people avoid falling victim to scams, particularly the elderly and vulnerable.
Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Community Safety and Enforcement Cllr Rehman Chishti said: “We have all received letters promising us that we have won a luxury holiday or car, if we send money to an organisation are usually scams. The advice is if it seems to good to be true, it usually is.
“I want everyone who has been a victim of these bogus prizes to contact Medway Trading Standards with details of any scam mailings they receive so we can stop someone else becoming a victim of this illegal trade.”
If you think you have fallen victim of scam mail and would like impartial advice, phone Consumer Direct on 08454 040506.
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posted by Pat