Fighting back against bogus mail

Rochdale Council and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) have joined a nationwide ‘Scamnesty’ campaign asking the public to help in the fight against bogus mail scams which cost the UK an estimated £3.5 billion a year.

With research suggesting that less than 5% of victims report these scams, the council’s Trading Standards Service is asking members of the public to collect any suspicious mailings they have recently received and drop them into designated ‘Scamnesty’ bins and boxes which are on display at local libraries and other public areas across the borough, until 22 February.

Nationally, every year an estimated three million people fall victim to mass marketed scams such as bogus lotteries, deceptive prize draws, sweepstakes, fake psychics and miracle health cures. Many are sent by post, as well as by email or over the phone, and can be particularly distressing to the elderly and vulnerable.

Local scams that have already hit the borough have seen residents lose varying sums of money. Catalogue prize draw scams are the most common, with people losing between £20-£200. The most extreme case seen by the council involved a Rochdale woman who paid out over £1000 to the Spanish Lottery.

Andy Glover, Public Protection Manager at Rochdale Council said: “We want the public to help us beat this by taking part in ‘Scamnesty’. The mailings collected will be vital in helping us gather intelligence on the latest scams, and in stopping the worst offenders from continuing to bring misery to people in the borough each year.”

Below is a list of locations where you’ll be able to find the boxes:

Heywood

Customer Services Centre, 44-46 Market Street, Heywood
Heywood Library, Church Street, Heywood

Middleton

Customer Services Centre, Sadler Street, Middleton
Bowlee Housing Office, 17 Lingmell Close, Langley

Pennines

Customer Services Centre, Harehill Park, Littleborough
Customer Services Centre, 82 Dale Street, Milnrow

Rochdale

Customer Services Centre, Floor 2 Municipal Offices, Smith Street
Planning & Regulation Customer Services, Floor 1 Telegraph House, Baillie Street