EU crackdown on scams

3.41.22pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 7th Mar 2007

South East MEP Sharon Bowles welcomes a new EU initiative to crackdown on cross border fraud: a powerful enforcement network of national watchdogs will target scams such as phoney lotteries, holiday clubs and pyramid schemes which scam millions of consumers in the UK every year.

Sharon says: "The figures are shocking. In the UK it is estimated that over 3 million people fall victim to such scams each year, costing each an average of £1,000. This is an outrageous amount of money going into the hands of crooks."

"Fraudsters often target the most vulnerable people in society, but we are all at risk. I have had many constituents, both individuals and businesses, contact me who have experienced it first hand. The scams are operating increasingly over the internet and are growing more and more impossible to detect. It could happen to any of us."

Many fraudsters have evaded police because they operate in one country but target victims in another, and take advantage of legal loopholes in each place. The enforcement network will have tough new cross-border powers: to conduct on site inspections, impose fines, freeze assets or order court action. Ms Bowles urges those who suspect they have been victims of a cross-border scam to report their case to their local Citizens Advice Bureau, through which the scheme will operate in the UK.

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