Mail marshal aims to run scammers out of town
AMEMBER of staff at Stockport-based care company Home Instead has become a Trading Standards mail marshal.
Community development officer Gary Wells is now urging the community to hand in their unwanted scam mail to the Home Instead office on Longshut Lane West.
Home Instead Senior Care partnered with the National Trading Standards Scam Team (NTSST) in 2016 to help fight fraud targeting the elderly.
The partnership sees Home Instead’s caregivers trained to combat mass market scams and allows them to report suspected fraud directly to the NTSST.
To date, Gary has delivered senior fraud prevention talks to more than 1,000 people across Stockport, and was keen to help the community through the new Trading Standards mail marshal initiative.
Gary said: “We want to make sure that our elderly clients and the local community are protected from scammers.
“We share our knowledge and training with the community, delivering free talks about scams, what to look out for and what to do.
“As a Trading Standards mail marshal, I am responsible for collecting scam mail and sending it to the National Trading Standards Scams Team to help combat fraudulent activity in the local area. If you have any scam mail, please drop it off at our office, so we can help fight against fraud.”
Home Instead has also developed a free Senior Fraud Protection Kit which includes tools to help assess the risk of an elderly loved one being scammed, plus checklists to help seniors take practical action to lower the risk of becoming a victim of a scam.
For more information about talks, to request a copy of the Senior Fraud Protection Kit, or to learn about the services provided by Home Instead, call 0161 480 0646 or visit home instead.co.uk/stockport.