Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that a gang of cold callers nicknamed "The Wolves of Wind Street" have been jailed after conning hundreds of people in a bogus boiler scheme.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that a gang of cold callers nicknamed "The Wolves of Wind Street" have been jailed after conning hundreds of people in a bogus boiler scheme.

The four Swansea men conned customers out of £425,000 in four months

Speaking after the verdict at Swansea Crown Court, Swansea East AM Mike Hedges said….. ‘I welcome this verdict and the jail sentences; I have campaigned against cold calling and scammers for a long time and it is good to see people who prey on the elderly and vulnerable getting their just desserts. Subjecting these people to scams and exploitation is simply appalling and I congratulate South Wales Police on the result achieved. I would also like to pay tribute to the victims who testified in court – it is a very brave thing to do! I would urge anyone who thinks they have been the victim of a scam to come forward and seek support from the police and other agencies – only through people coming forward will be able to help put other similar scammers in jail.’

FACTS ON SCAMS IN WALES

The average age of mail scam victims is 74.

 Over half of people aged 65+ believe they have been a target of a scam.  An estimated 3.8 million fraud incidents and 2.0 million computer misuse incidents were experienced by adults aged 16+ in England and Wales for the year ending March 2016. Given that there were a total of 6.3 million incidents of all other crimes in the same period, adding fraud and cyber-crime almost doubles the total crime figures.

 The majority of fraud incidents (2.5m) relate to bank and credit card fraud. The majority of computer misuse incidents (1.4m) relate to computer viruses.

 However under-reporting makes it difficult to accurately measure the extent of scams – the OFT estimated that fewer than five per cent of victims report scams.

 A third of older people who fell for a scam may have lost £1,000 or more. There are many cases where victims lose tens of thousands or even more than £100k.

 The City of London Police estimate that savers lost £9m to pension scams between April and August 2015 – twice as much as in the same period in 2014.

 £1.2 billion is lost to investment scams in the UK every year, with people aged 65+ particularly likely to be targeted.