Related Credit Card Article

"Consumers warned not to fall victim to scam letters"

By admin | June 22nd, 2008 | General

Consumers are being warned to be vigilant with regards to their junk mail, and not to fall victim to elaborate scam mail, after a case involving an elderly woman highlighted how falling for this sort of scam can lead to incredible levels of debt. The woman reportedly got into thousands of pounds worth of debt as a result of responding to scam letters that were asking her to send money by way of an administration fee so that they could send her the cash that they claimed she had won.

One industry official stated: ‘There is a scam for everyone. They prey on people’s fears or anxieties or exploit their need for money. Once someone has sent off money or personal information showing that they are susceptible to a particular type of scam, they’ll be placed on a ’sucker’ list by the scammers and targeted repeatedly.’

Indeed this seems to have been the case in this instance, as the woman was apparently receiving up to thirty scam mail letters a day at one points, all of them asking her for money. The situation came to light when she asked her son for help because the financial situation she had got herself into resulted in calls from the bank. He then discovered all of the letters, and found out that she had been falling for the letters for ten years – racking up debts of £30,000.

Her son stated: “There was no indication as to how much debt she had got herself into. All she knew was that she was getting letters from the bank and she finally came to me and said: ‘Can you help me out. I went sorting through the house and found carrier bags full of these sorts of letters.”

Recent additions:

• Be careful with your PIN
• Concerns over plastic card security from campaigners
• Barclays accused of trying to get consumers to get deeper into debt
• Fraud against deceased can be avoided through new scheme

Tags: scam, debt

Related Articles:

• Avoid getting conned out of money by scam mail

  Junk mail is something that is irritating and annoying to most of us, but in most cases is pretty harmless – we simply tear open the envelope, discover the contents are simply junk, and dispose of the letter in the appropriate way. However, there is a more sinister, malicious type of junk mail that is...

• Couple nearly gets caught out in credit card tax scam

  A couple from the UK has explained how they nearly got caught out by a credit card tax scam, after receiving an email that claimed to be from HM Revenue and Customs, and which claimed that they were entitled to a rebate on their taxes. The email asked the couple for their credit card details,...

• Don’t be slack about credit card security

  As most of us have heard the level of plastic card crime has been soaring over recent years, and those of us lucky enough to have avoided becoming victims of this type of crime have most likely been unable to avoid hearing about it. Credit and debit card fraudsters have started to use increasingly sophisticated...

• Credit card customers complain about car selling scam

  As industry officials are always warning us it is vital not to give out your credit card account details to anyone that calls you claiming to be providing a service or claiming to be from some company or other, and even to those that turn up at the door claiming to be from a particular...

• Banks hassling struggling consumers

  Struggling consumers in debt in the UK are being targeted and hassled by some High Street banks, in a bid to try and get the consumer to ‘deal’ with their debt issues by taking out a more expensive loan. In many cases the banks are leaving the consumer in an even worse situation, with more...

Other Recent Articles

Credit Card Rules Everyone Should Follow

Credit cards play a big part in many people’s everyday lives and used well and responsibly, they can be useful...

By admin | May 14, 2012 | Read More

Brit credit card details being sold by Indian call centres

Identity theft and credit card fraud are crimes that we have all become increasingly conscious about over recent years, and...

By Reno | March 21, 2012 | Read More

Fall in card fraud reported

Over recent years credit card fraud has become an increasingly worrying problem in the UK, with technology such as the...

By Reno | March 8, 2012 | Read More

How to improve your credit score by using your credit card to pay your monthly bills

With no signs that the recession will let up any time soon we’re constantly looking for ways to...

By admin | March 5, 2012 | Read More

Supermarket scoops credit card honour

There are many different providers around these days offering a range of credit cards to suit different needs and circumstances,...

By Reno | March 1, 2012 | Read More