Many of my constituents living in Ongar and the villages are older members of our society, or are looking after those who did now grow up in the world of mobile phones and the internet.
Sadly, scammers are all too well aware that those who are less familiar with smartphones and online shopping are vulnerable to being scammed, and this is a criminal act the Government is determined to stop. It is completely unacceptable for predatory criminals to take money out of the pockets of hard working people, businesses, and organisations. As such, the Government has made a commitment to deliver a ten per cent cut in fraud on 2019 levels by December 2024.
This will be achieved through a number of different measures including the establishment of a new national fraud squad with over 400 new posts which will ensure that fraud is a priority for the police. The Government will also put more fraudsters in prison through better investigation and prosecution processes for fraud and digital offences. SIM farms, which are devices that can house hundreds of phone SIM cards and can send out thousands of scam texts to defraud the UK public of millions of pounds, will be banned which are used by criminals to send thousands of scam texts at once.
Further, cold calls will also be banned on financial products so fraudsters cannot dupe people into buying fake investments and legislation will be changed so that more victims of fraud will get their money back. The technology sector will also be asked by the Government to put in place extra protections for their customers and tough new penalties will be imposed on companies who do not.
In the meantime, and please do share this information with anyone and everyone you know, Age UK has some excellent information and advice on how to be wary of uninvited or unexpected calls, which you can find here:
Age UK also provides support through its free advice line on 0800 055 6112. Lines are open 8am-7pm, 365 days a year and specialist advisors are available to provide information and advice to older residents, their carers, relatives, and friends by telephone, email, in writing, or in person.
