How scam-busters saved residents £140,000

A HALTON scam-busting programme has been reported to have saved residents £140,000 since it launched in 2014 according to a report published for safety chiefs that revealed callous tricksters are preying on the vulnerable including OAPs in their 90s.

The update from the borough’s Trading Standards team said the project had worked with 100 victims in 12 months, protecting each one from coughing up £1,408.50.

This represented a saving of £3.16 per £1 spent on the programme, the report said, with staff costs running at £45,890 per annum for one investigator.

However, based on Age UK estimated figures on the number of potential victims who respond to approaches from scammers such as emails, Halton scam busters have predicted that there could be around 984 victims in the borough, representing a potential overall loss of £1,385,964 to the area, that could be avoided if each one came forward.

Older residents are more likely to be targeted, with 85% of consumers who have worked with Halton Trading Standards being over 60 years of age, 36% over 75 and 26% in ill-health.

The figures were contained in a report published for Halton Council’s safer policy and performance board.

It is hoped that the scam busting project will make residents ‘more resilient’ to scammers.

Case studies in the report included a man in his 60s who had spent £6,000 on scam lottery and prize draws in 10 months, having already been doing it for years, thus depleting his savings and leaving him without enough cash to replace his failing microwave which he used to cook his basic diet of soup, beans and bread.

A 97-year-old man lost around £20,000 to scam mail and refused to stop replying to the 20 letters he was receiving per day from tricksters, and was reported by social services to have had no cash to buy food or his care bills when his balance dropped from £60 credit to £220 overdrawn.

He was also being sued by a betting company for a £59 debt, which Trading Standards officers had cancelled, and they also obtained a full refund for a call blocking device that cost him £85.

Another victim had suffered a stroke and was paying £200 a month to prize draw scams but the team put in touch with staff who enabled her to start exercise classes and signed her up to the phone preference service to cut the number of cold calls she was receiving.

A 66-year-old Halton man was investigated for money-laundering after falling victim to two romance scams, having taken out £24,000 of loans to give £30,000 to the criminals he believed to be love interests.