I’m delighted to announce that Prizeology has joined the Friends Against Scams campaign, an initiative that aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering communities to ‘Take a Stand Against Scams’.
I have also been signed up by Trading Standards Scams Team as a Scambassador, a role mostly reserved to date for policiticans. I am firmly committed to highlighting the issue of scams to the promotions industry and to the millions of consumers it reaches. Scams damage lives and can affect people financially and emotionally so it is with great pride that I have joined the work of the Friend Against Scams Team and others who are working together to prevent people from being victims of scams.
Louise Baxter, Team Manager, National Trading Standards Scams Team said: “It is fantastic to partner up with Prizeology and Sarah to help us tackle this problem on a local, regional and national level and I would encourage all those that are interested in showing their support to join the campaign and be part of our growing SCAMbassador network.”
Each year scams cause between £5bn and £10bn worth of detriment to UK consumers. Scams are a pervasive, criminal threat, which in addition to the financial damage can also cause serious detrimental, long-term psychological effects and ultimately destroy lives. scams can have a severe emotional and psychological impact on victims.
Scams often target the most vulnerable people in society, but the reality is that anyone can become a victim of a scam, which is why for 2018 I’m putting together a nationwide campaign that targets both consumers and promoters.
We need to increase awareness of prize scams among consumers, but we also need to make promoters aware of the scale of the problem. Scams are a major issue for the promotions industry, and we need to encourage promoters to ensure consumers can clearly tell the difference between a scam and a genuine promotion.
I’d like to invite promoters who want to be involved in the 2018 campaign to get in touch with me via hello@prizeology.com Working together, I believe we can really make a difference.
Sarah Burns is Prizeology’s Chief Prizeologist, an IPM Board Director, and a SCAMbassador for National Trading Standards Scams Team.
