Elderly and indebted to be targeted by scammer

According to a recent report 2009 is a year that will see both the elderly and those with high levels of debt get targeted by scammers. Officials have predicted that scams such as bogus lottery claims will be aimed at the more vulnerable, and this could include those on low incomes and with lots of debt as well as the elderly.

Experts claim that the more difficult circumstances of such groups make them a prime target for scammers, and this could result in them ending up in an even worse situation.

Officials from the Office of Fair Trading have stated that it expects the level of scams such as bogus lottery and the like to soar over the course of this year. Those in more serious financial difficulty will be more susceptible at the chance to get their hands on large sums of money, according to the OFT, which is why the scammer tend to target certain groups.

One official from the OFT said: ‘Scammers adapt to new circumstances and offer false hope to those often in difficult financial straits who may be tempted by the false hope offered by prize draws or claims of a foreign lottery win.’

Some people are called or contacted with regards to a lottery win even though they have not even entered it.

One Camelot official said: ‘The basic truth is that if you haven’t played, you can’t win. Sadly, we are aware of these practices and ask people to flag them up to us when they come across them.’

The OFT is running a campaign where it is encouraging consumers to contact them with details of any scams that they have come across so that they can make others aware and minimise on the number of victims that fall for these scams.

Tags: minimise, Lottery, elderly scams, lottery scams, incomes, office of fair trading, financial difficulty, truth