Prize sourcing and management company Prizeology has joined the National Trading Standards’ Friends Against Scams campaign, an initiative that aims to protect vulnerable people from falling victim to scams, including misleading and fake promotions, and Sarah Burns, Prizeology founder and Managing Director and a Board Director of UK marketing industry trade body, is spearheading a campaign to get promoters and agencies to help stamp out scams.
NTS aims to empower communities to ‘Take a Stand Against Scams’ and is recruiting ‘Scambassadors’ to spread the message.
The NTS points out that, 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 long-term psychological effects and potentially destroy lives.
Sarah Burns, Prizeology founder and Managing Director and a Board Director of UK marketing industry trade body, the Institute of Promotional Marketing, has recently signed up as a Scambassador and wants to highlight the issue of scams to the promotions industry.
Sarah Burns says: “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. 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 tell the difference between a scam and a genuine promotion really clearly. I’d like to invite promoters who want to be involved in the 2018 campaign to get in touch with me at hello@prizeology.com. Working together, I believe we can really make a difference.”
Louise Baxter, Team Manager, National Trading Standards Scams Team, observes: “The tactics used by scammers leave victims socially isolated and ashamed of telling their friends and families what’s really going on behind closed doors.”
National Trading Standards provides leadership influence, support and resources to help combat consumer and business detriment locally, regionally and nationally. The National Trading Standards Scams Team works in partnership with other agencies across the country to identify and support victims of mass marketing fraud.
