no cold calling

Figures out last year from the National Fraud Office estimate that around £6bn is lost annually by victims of fraud schemes and illegal scams; what’s more disturbing is that the Office of Fair Trading estimates that around 95% of these scams go unreported. If we apply this to the 2,500 scams that were reported in Wales last year, the true figure could be in the region of 50,000 victims. It’s therefore unsurprising that this is one illegal industry that is on the rise throughout the UK.

 

Such crimes can have a devastating impact upon anyone that falls victim to them, often leaving the individual tens of thousands of pounds out of pocket. As well catching the criminals and raising awareness of these vicious scams and swindles, it’s my belief that we need to give a high priority towards tackling them at their root cause. One of the biggest “methods” of scams relates to unwanted and uninvited doorstep callers; that is why I’ve been calling for the roll out of more “No Cold Calling Zones”.

 

Research conducted by charities and organisations like Age Cymru, Scambusters and Trading Standards departments have shown that “No Cold Calling Zones” are popular with members of the public, can act as crime deterrents, and can save councils and police forces money by preventing the crimes from occurring in the first place.

 

The problem, however, is the current lack of consistency of zones across the 22 councils in Wales. Just three Welsh councils have zones in operation that  cover over 5,000 homes; eight councils have zones in place that cover fewer than 1,000 homes; and four councils currently have no zones in operation; we in Swansea have just four zones.

 

After raising this in the Senedd with the Lesley Griffiths last week, I welcomed the news that the Welsh Government has recently made funding available for local councils to create new zones to cover an extra 10,000 properties. However, I would like to see more done in cracking down on the scammers. It’s my belief that we need to permanently end the “postcode lottery” of zones by making Wales a No Cold Calling Zone.

 

The danger of having small zones covering a handful of properties is that it’s almost like having a sign that says ‘old and vulnerable people live here’. The other concern, of course, is that criminal and fraudsters will just move onto another area where there isn’t a zone in operation, effectively moving the organised set-up elsewhere and not dealing with the problem. This is something that can be avoided with consistency.