What's the catch? 13 January 2006
Apparently people in Britain have been particularly susceptible to the promise of maximum reward for minimum input over the last year, five million of us have fallen prey to internet and phone scammers.
But more worryingly, consumer watchdog Which? has revealed that a further 23 million people were unsuccessfully targeted by fraudsters and that con-artists amass a total of around £1 billion a year through tricking the UK public. And it is often only with hindsight that we realise how unlikely a "fantastic offer" is, by which point money has often been lost and the victims left red-faced - especially if the scam is particularly far-fetched.
Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code has provoked much controversy and debate as a result of a plotline steeped in religious facts and fictions. Unfortunately, it also inspired some sneaky scammers to attempt to cash in on its superstitious and mystic story.
Sucked in by the promise of good fortune and wealth, wishful thinking customers happily shelled out £25 for a "genuine" Codex of Leonardo Da Vinci. What they in fact received was a tin pendant, through which the artist's "legitimate" heir would be given riches "reserved only for you".
The majority of us would instantly see this kind of fantastical fraud for what it is and wouldn't dream of falling for it, but scams surround us every day and do sometimes require a good helping of cynicism to resist the various types of money-grabbing con.
Eight million Brits say they have received material through the mail or internet promoting international lotteries. These scams tend to inform an unwitting mail recipient that they have all manner of wildly exciting or valuable prizes, and then request that they pay to "release" their winnings.
The scams that proved the most popular in the UK with two million Brits falling for them, however, were the offers of dream holidays, posh cars and cash prizes requiring the winner to phone a premium line phone number to claim them.
The consumer watchdog's advice? Which? editor Martin Coles said: "The con artists who run these scams are experts in fooling people to part with their money. Unfortunately, it's rare to get something for nothing - if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." You have been warned....
Post a comment
As usual, we would be delighted to hear your comments or questions about this article. Comments may be published on this or any other BT site.
Comments:
Miss Joy Abbott writes:
"There is another form of scam which is posted, this one looks official as it appears to be from the Data Protection Office and states that as you are not covered by Data Protection you could be fined up to £25,000 - but if you use the form (which they supply) and send it to them with the £75 fee then you will be covered.
"I phoned the proper Data Protection Office only to be told it didn't come from them & in any case the amount they charge is much less than that, I was also informed that as I only put data on our computers for our own use it wasn't neccessary for us to be registered at all.
