The increasing menace of scam letters
Chris Hogan, 13th July 2015, Household
When it comes to crime statistics, there's definite good news in that violent crime and theft seem to be on the wane and have been for many years now. But there is another side to the story. Since computers became commonplace, and then the internet became part of our lives, it's been easier and less dangerous for criminals to simply trick victims into handing over money.
We have probably all had the obviously fake emails from people abroad. They suggest that you help them recover a huge sum of money that they have discovered in a dormant bank account, or belonged to their politician husband/son-in-law/business partner. All they need is for you to help them and they will split the money with you.
But one of the most successful forms of fraud right now doesn't use the internet, it uses just a PC, a printer and good old-fashioned post. The ease with which anyone can print official looking letters, franking marks and even fake cheques makes this a crime that's growing alarmingly and no-one seems to have the power to stop it.
Competition prizes
Recently press and television reports covered a task force that had been set up in the West Country to try and warn people who had ended up on a 'suckers list' – a list of names and addresses of people who had fallen for a con-trick, or were considered likely to. The force visited every person on the list, mostly elderly and some particularly vulnerable, and found that very few hadn't been taken by some sort of scam.
Usually the letters promised a competition win, but the winner had to send in a sum of money to claim their prize. Of course a worthless prize would arrive, often nothing at all. But just doing it once would guarantee that person's place on sucker lists that would be sold nationally and even internationally.
The cheque is in the post
Other scams that start arriving are clairvoyants who charge for 'readings' and predictions, lottery wins in foreign countries, bogus charities (often with freepost envelopes for donations) and worthless health products that offer huge cash back payouts for 'just one more order'.
This is often distressing for relatives of elderly and vulnerable people who realise these letters aren't official but can't prevent people opening them and being taken in. In some cases relatives could only stand by while thousands of pounds were given to fraudsters.
But there is a key problem with the law in this situation.
Royal Mail quandary
A core concept of the Royal Mail since it began is that mail shouldn't be opened until it's delivered to the addressee. This prevents the sort of screening that is possible for people who are suffering harassment by telephone. At the moment mail can be redirected but only with the addressee's consent – difficult to achieve if the victim has succumbed to the emotional blackmail of the scammers and really thinks there is a windfall on the way.
Campaigners are trying to get this modified to allow mail to go to a trusted third party for filtering, before being sent on to the addressee, but it hasn't happened yet. It will will be harder if the Royal Mail loses it's monopoly and there are suddenly loads of other companies delivering letters.
Help at hand
If you are in a situation where you suspect that a relative may be susceptible to postal scams, try thinkjessica.com which is run by a woman whose mother fell into the hands of scammers. She started the 'Think Jessica' campaign to highlight the problem, raise awareness and campaign to change the law.
In 2014 the campaign scored a major victory when the Royal Mail and Trading Standards started working together to train postal workers to spot scam mail. Although they can't prevent the letters being delivered, they can identify victims and alert Trading Standards to new threats.
More needs to be done
Looking at the stories on the think Jessica website it's clear that The Post Office and Trading Standards can do little to stem the tide. Banks, building societies, Citizens Advice Bureaux and charities working with the elderly are well aware of the problems and frustrated at not being able to do anything about them. Bank and building society staff often realise that fraud is occurring but can't prevent people doing what they want with their own money.
Even if someone is caught and arrested, they can only be charged with fraudulent trading, something that will only get a few months in prison and a fine – the victims are unlikely to get their money back.
