Stuart Anderson MP has launched a scam awareness campaign, calling on residents across South Shropshire to follow top tips to protect themselves from scams and other fraudulent activities online.
Stuart has said that it is more important than ever before to empower and protect people from scams and associated activities that use emails, text messages, and phone calls to deceive others – often trying to rush them to make decisions and pay out money or share personal data.
He has said that everyone must be equipped with the knowledge and confidence to report scams and to raise awareness about this issue in their own communities.
Stuart's campaign follows publication of the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) on 30th January 2025. It estimated that some 3.9 million fraud incidents took place in the year ending September 2024 - a 19% increase compared to the previous year.
Bank and credit account fraud increased by 15% to about 2.2 million incidents, while consumer and retail fraud increased by 26% to about 1 million incidents. Around 2.9 million fraud incidents involved financial loss, with victims fully reimbursed in just 1.9 million of cases.
Citizen's Advice, which runs the Scams Awareness Campaign, received some 1,591 complaints about finance-related scams in 2023. Stuart is now backing their campaign, which aims to create a network of confident, alert consumers who know what to do when they spot a scam.
The national campaign is organised by Citizens Advice, together with the Consumer Protection Partnership of consumer advice and enforcement agencies - of which the Department for Business and Trade (BEIS) is a member.
It brings together key partners within the consumer landscape to better identify, prioritise, and coordinate collective action to tackle those issues causing greatest harm to consumers and collects regular intelligence on scams as they emerge.
As part of the campaign, Stuart is inviting residents to find out how to better identify and deal with scams. He has created a Scam Awareness Hub on his website. It lists 17 different initiatives through which residents can increase their skills and knowledge to deal with scams.
It includes Action Fraud, the national reporting service for fraud and cybercrime, which can help individuals raise their awareness of these sorts of scams and obtain advice on how to combat these scams. They can be contacted by phone on 0300 123 2040 or www.actionfraud.police.uk.
Age UK's also have dedicated guides to help older residents be aware of scams and what they can do to protect themselves. They provide support through their free advice line and have specialist advisors at local Age UK branches.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
"Constituents in South Shropshire have contacted me with concerns about scams and other fraudulent activities they should not have to put up with including scam texts, phone calls, and fake advertising. Being the victim of a scam can be very distressing, with emotional as well as financial impacts. These crimes can happen to anyone at any time. So, everyone must be equipped with the skills and knowledge to report scams. My Scam Awareness and Support Hub aims to safeguard fellow residents from these pernicious activities. Scams are also becoming much more sophisticated, which makes it increasingly difficult for many older people to spot them. So, I have called on Ministers to launch a strategy with a clear set of actions that will improve awareness and increase the confidence to report any incidents so they can be quickly investigated and acted upon to deliver justice for victims."
