New U.K. Report on Mass-Marketed Scams
Today, the United Kingdom Office of Fair Trading (OFT) issued a study on the impact of mass-marketed scams (i.e., scams using direct mail, telemarketing, email, and the Internet) on U.K. consumers. Here are some of the OFT's more intriguing findings:
- An estimated £3.5 billion to scams each year, including estimated losses of £1.17 billion to holiday (vacation) club scams, £490 million to high-risk investment scams, £420 million to pyramid and get-rich-quick scams, and £260 million to foreign-lottery scams. The total equates to about £70 per year for every adult living in the United Kingdom.
- The mean amount lost per scam is £850, but the median is only £14. This means that the distribution of losses is highly skewed, as the mean is increased dramatically by “the relatively small number of persons who lost large amounts of money to scams.”
- Nearly half the U.K. adult population (about 23.5 million people) is likely to have been targeted by a scam, and 6.5 percent of the U.K. adult population fall victim to scams every year.
- An estimated £3.5 billion to scams each year, including estimated losses of £1.17 billion to holiday (vacation) club scams, £490 million to high-risk investment scams, £420 million to pyramid and get-rich-quick scams, and £260 million to foreign-lottery scams. The total equates to about £70 per year for every adult living in the United Kingdom.
- The mean amount lost per scam is £850, but the median is only £14. This means that the distribution of losses is highly skewed, as the mean is increased dramatically by “the relatively small number of persons who lost large amounts of money to scams.”
- Nearly half the U.K. adult population (about 23.5 million people) is likely to have been targeted by a scam, and 6.5 percent of the U.K. adult population fall victim to scams every year.
posted by Jon Rusch at 1:04 PM
2 Comments:
interesting survey. but what is such a survey for?
The OFT has taken the lead in Great Britain in consumer education about all kinds of scams. I know, from personal contact with OFT staff, that OFT is likely interested in seeing what types of scams are most injurious to consumers, in part so that they can decide on how to develop future consumer education messaging.
Post a Comment
<< Home