Scams

A scam is a type of fraud. Mass marketing scams are the most common. According to the Office of Fair Trading a mass marketing scam is a ‘misleading or deceptive business practice where the person receives an unsolicited or uninvited contact (e.g. by letter, email, phone or advertisement) and false promises are made to con the victim out of money’.

What is the impact of scams

• every year three million people fall victim to scams (losing an average of £850 each and sometimes a great deal more). As well as losing money, being taken in by a scam can be very distressing for the victim and their friends and family
• for chronic victims it can take over their lives with some individuals receiving up to 200 letters in just one week, all of which they feel the need to respond to
• fewer than five per cent of people report scams to the authorities

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Against Scams Partnership

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Against Scams Partnership (CAPASP) is a county-wide partnership of public, private and voluntary sector organisations committed to working together to stop scams and doorstep crime across the county.

For more information about the partnership and what they are delivering, please click here.

Local Research into the impact of Fraud and Scams

Fraud and Scams is an area that each of the local Community Safety Partnerships regularly monitor through their strategic assessment process. These documents can be found within our document library.