Surrey County Council’s trading standards team is leading the fight against scam mail by making February Scamnesty month.
Between February 1 and 26 there will be Scamnesty bins in key locations around the county for residents to dump their scam mail, giving trading standards the evidence they need to pursue the scammers.
The sites are mainly in county, borough and district council offices, council-run help shops and libraries but Age Concern have also agreed to stock bins.
Councillor Kay Hammond said: “Scam mail is a despicable way of conning people out of their money. Anyone can fall victim, but the elderly are particularly vulnerable and people have been known to lose their life savings before their realise their mistake. Sometimes they are then too embarrassed to say anything and the scammers go unpunished.”
There will also be a website running during the month at consumerdirect.gov.uk/scamnesty which will contain further information about scams and how to avoid them.
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