We are supporting a fraud awareness campaign designed to assist people in how to spot the signs and avoid becoming a victim of fraud.
In the Humberside Police area alone £13.8 million was stolen from 7471 victims between 2019-2020. The impact on a victim of fraud can be considerable from both a financial and emotional wellbeing perspective.
The new campaign, Say No to Fraud, developed by the Office of the Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner, features the real stories of local victims of fraud and aims to reduce the number of victims by committing to increasing knowledge of the types of fraud, the methods used by the criminals and advice on how to protect yourself and those you love from becoming a victim of these crimes.
It is encouraging local residents to ‘say no to fraud’. That might mean closing the door on a person while you check their credentials, putting the phone down mid-conversation to ring your bank yourself, saying no to anyone asking for money or bank details that you may have befriended online. It may seem rude at first, but these could be serious organised criminals who are pretending to be someone or something they are not. They are a ‘wolf in sheep’s clothing’ at your door, on the phone or online and it won’t matter if you offend them. Genuine agencies will always understand and appreciate your caution.
Residents are also being asked to take five minutes to talk about fraud with people they care about. Some victims of fraud are embarrassed and might find it embarrassing to tell anyone, because they feel they have been duped, victims often blame themselves for being ‘scammed’. This belittles fraud which is a serious crime. It is never the victim’s fault, they have had their money stolen by unscrupulous criminals who will target those again and again using different methods.
Close the door, press delete or hang up on these criminals. More information can be found on social media #SayNoToFraud and online at www.saynotofraud.uk.
