As a SCAMbassador, North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood recently joined the National Trading Standards (NTS) Scams Team in the Assembly to promote 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’.
Each year scams cause between £5bn and £10bn worth of detriment to UK consumers. In addition to the financial impact, scams can have a severe emotional and psychological impact on victims.
Mr Isherwood said:
“Scams often target the most vulnerable people in society but the reality is that anyone can become a victim of scams.
“Scams damage lives and can affect people financially and emotionally so it is with great pride that I have joined in with the work of the National Trading Standards Scams Team to prevent people from being victims of scams. As a SCAMbassador, I pledge to help make North Wales a scam-free constituency.”
Scams affect millions of people across the UK and cost consumers an estimated £5-10 billion of detriment of each year. 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.
Louise Baxter, Team Manager, National Trading Standards Scams Team said: "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.
“It is fantastic to have such an influential figure in the community to help us tackle this problem on a regional level and I would encourage all those that are interested in showing their support to join the campaign and be part of our growing ‘friends’ network."