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Hampshire County Council Trading Standards is calling on residents to help in the fight against scams by taking part in its scamnesty. The Scamnesty is part of a national campaign being run by the Office of Fair Trading, and has designated February as Scam Awareness Month. The number of scams circulating is continually increasing - there are now bogus sweepstakes and lotteries, get-rich-quick schemes, fake health cures, and on-line dating schemes to name a few. The techniques used to trick people are becoming more sophisticated too, for example emails that use the branding belonging to banks and ask for people to confirm their account details.From 1 February Scamnesty boxes will be in all Hampshire County Council libraries for individuals and businesses to drop off any scam mailings or emails that they may have received. At the end of the month Trading Standards will use the mailings it has received to gain a more accurate idea of the scale of the problem in Hampshire and to inform its intelligence on scams that are currently in operation. Normally the advice is just to throw away scam mailings or to delete the email but for February we would residents to drop them in our scamnesty boxes or send them to Trading Standards to help us ascertain the variety and volume of scams operating in Hampshire. Anyone who feels they or someone they know may have fallen victim to a scam should contact Consumer Direct on 0845 04 05 06 for advice.
As part of the scamnesty you can also send your scam mailings to Hampshire Trading Standards Service, Montgomery House, Monarch Way, Winchester, SO22 5PW.
More information can be found on the Trading Standards Scamawareness website following link -
Below are some recent warnings in the form of case studies from Hampshire Trading Standards which can be downloaded as Word documents:
February 2008 (2 pages, 24kb)
December 2007 (2 pages, 27kb)
August 2007 (1 page, 158kb)
April 2007 (1 page, 28kb)
October 2006 (3 pages, 28kb)
The Trading Standards Service is part of Regulatory Services, and aims to achieve a fair and safe trading environment throughout Hampshire.
Their work impacts on every resident and commercial enterprise. Trading standards officers visit, inspect, and test every conceivable type of product or service.
Consumer Advice in Hampshire is now provided by Consumer Direct South East. However, they will refer complex enquiries or those requiring further action to Hampshire Trading Standards. Consumer Direct is a telephone and online consumer advice service, that is supported by local authorities in the South East and by the Department of Trade and Industry.
A key role for this team is to minimise the impact on young people's health and the community's quality of life which can arise from the abuse of age-restricted products like alcohol, cigarettes and solvents. Business advice and enforcement are used to ensure these products aren't sold to young people. The team is committed to other community-based projects such as offering free electric blanket safety checks to the elderly and free child car seat safety checks.
Some useful website links are:
The Fair Trading team is responsible for enforcing a wide range of criminal laws, through a combination of routine inspections, special projects and advice to business. The main areas of work include dealing with:
Misdescribed goods and services
Counterfeit goods
Misleading price indications
Misdescriptions by estate agents and property developers
Mileage fraud on motor vehicles
Package holidays and timeshare
Sale of unroadworthy vehicles
Rogue and doorstep traders.
Following the increase in complaints about doorstep traders targeting the elderly and vulnerable, they have set up a quick response team.
In response to concerns about rogue traders which are often highlighted in the media, Hampshire Trading Standards has taken a ground-breaking step by putting together the Buy With Confidence Scheme. The scheme provides a series of detailed checks before being approved as a member of the scheme. Full details, and the list of approved businesses can be viewed on the Buy With Confidence website.
The Protecting Older People (POP) team is dedicated to warning older Hampshire residents of the dangers associated with dealing with uninvited doorstep sellers. More information about the Protecting Older People team can be found here.
The Food and Agriculture Team promotes and enforces food, agriculture and animal health laws.
The team works to ensure food is correctly and accurately labelled, that it contains legal ingredients and that any claims made are truthful. It also deals with national food safety alerts and issues press releases to inform local businesses and consumers about product recalls or hazard warnings.
You can find more information about the Food and Agriculture (Animal Health) Team and some useful links here.
Below are some recent warnings in the form of case studies from Hampshire Trading Standards which can be downloaded as Word documents:
October 2006 (3 pages, 28kb)
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