Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Official Report 896KB pdf

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Financial Scam Prevention

The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S5M-15906, in the name of Maurice Corry, on financial scam prevention. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I ask members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament expresses concern that financial scammers are estimated to cost UK consumers over £9 billion each year and that, sadly, dementia, social isolation and other factors leave citizens vulnerable to predatory scammers and rogue traders, even resulting in the loss of their entire life savings; considers this issue a matter of public safety and believes that there are simple preventative solutions that empower citizens to avoid fraud and protect them from financial and personal harm; highlights that the recent scamming of pensioners in Clydebank and Dumbarton in February 2019 is not unique to these areas and that one in eight people in Scotland are victims of fraud; commends the efforts of the local councils and communities that are already trying to tackle this issue, and notes the hope that the Scottish Government will take further action to protect its citizens from scams.

17:03  

I am grateful for being able to open tonight’s members’ business debate and to talk about the subject at hand. I thank the members who have supported my motion so fervently. I am very grateful for that.

How many of us have received an email from a foreign royal claiming that we are the only one who is able to help them out of a sticky situation, usually involving thousands of pounds; or an offer to invest in gold that will make us richer than we ever dreamed in a matter of days; or a call claiming that our car insurance is overdue, when we do not even have a car? It is almost certain that we have all been exposed to financial scams in our lives.

Although some scams are more obviously fraudulent, scammers are getting more and more sophisticated in their targeted attacks. I had a scam call experience only the other day. It lasted from Friday until Monday, and was from someone purporting to be from BT, but who was clearly phoning from Bombay, or somewhere else over in that part of the world. It took us until Monday to identify that the calls were fraudulent. I then asked the caller whether they could tell me where they were calling from, and they said that they were calling from 81 High Holborn, London. I said, “That’s fine—I’ll pass that to the police, and they’ll be round”, and all I heard was, “Oh, my God!” and the phone went down. I never heard from them again. Basically, they were really at it.

In short, we are all exposed to scams, but there are simple preventative measures that we can take to protect our communities and keep people safe. Vulnerable members of our communities are at risk, so we need to implement those preventative measures to protect them from scamming.

The basics are simple. Financial scams are costing United Kingdom consumers £9 billion a year. That, coupled with the fact that one in eight Scots will fall victim to fraud, indicates that a serious public security issue exists. Financial scams manifest themselves in a variety of ways, including as phishing scams, fraudulent calls, bogus callers and rogue traders at the doorstep. Scammers pose as representatives of banks, HM Revenue and Customs, pension funds and other reputable institutions. I ask everyone to note that banks will not send out anything that is riddled with spelling errors requesting personal information.

Scams are a matter of community safety. Last year, no less than £354 million was lost from customers having been tricked into transferring money to fraudulent accounts. Unfortunately, it is often the more vulnerable members of our communities who fall victim to such crimes. Fortunately, however, there are simple ways to prevent people from becoming victims of scams, and to keep our communities safe. Scammers target people who are socially isolated, people with dementia, pensioners and others. For some of those people, who come from a time when most correspondence could be trusted, the rogue traders appear to be legitimate. To them, a phone call from the bank, requesting funds, seems to be genuine.

There is a strong correlation between social isolation and people falling victim to scams, and seven out of 10 victims of scams do not tell anyone about it, so they cannot be helped. In the UK, there are 3.6 million older people who live alone, and 2 million of them are over 75. Of course, not all older people will fall victim to a scam, but we must punish those who target their perceived vulnerability.

Age Scotland’s 2017 report on the subject shared a case study that illustrates how a financial scammer targeted someone who was socially isolated. The report says:

“John is a proud retired professional who is living independently with dementia. His wife died several years ago and his only daughter lives 30 miles away. A homecarer arrived at the home one day and noted that 3 men were working on the roof of his property, it transpired they had cold called having noticed a loose roof tile from the road. They initially quoted £80 but had since claimed that the roof needed emergency repairs and the cost had rocketed to £7,500.

John was upset and confused and indicated he just wanted to pay the men to get them away as he felt threatened and embarrassed. The homecarer contacted the Police and Trading Standards scam prevention team. The alleged workmen cleared off when they realised that the Police were investigating. The Trading Standards scam prevention team then visited John to give him advice on avoiding scammers in future. It transpires that John was also being targeted by scammers on the phone and through large amounts of mail claiming he had won various prizes.

Sadly, John had responded to a large number of fraudsters and over £100,000 of his savings had been withdrawn from his account to pay scammers from all over the world.”

What happened to John was unfortunate and totally unacceptable. Thankfully, his local trading standards scam prevention team visited him to ensure that he was not scammed again, but the damage had already been done. That is a sad story indeed, but it highlights how we can deal with and prevent such scams.

Although Westminster is officially charged with responsibility for consumer rights, scammers are a threat to the Scottish community’s safety, and we in the Scottish Parliament have a responsibility to protect our citizens from harm, including financial harm. The Scottish police and trading standards Scotland are essential in targeting scammers. Let us work with them and support the community-safety-focused scam prevention work that local trading standards teams undertake.

Sadly, trading standards teams are recognised as being at breaking point, given their funding position and low staff numbers. However, several local authorities have introduced creative prevention initiatives to reduce the risk of residents being scammed, and that creativity is to be commended. BT has found that the average person in Britain receives four nuisance calls a week, but what can be just a nuisance call to some—or a near miss, in my case—can be a devastating financial blow to others. Through nuisance call blocking initiatives, more than 1.5 million calls have been blocked across Scotland, and with increased awareness more nuisance calls will be blocked, thereby protecting the public from parting with their savings.

The Life Changes Trust should be acknowledged for its funding of trading standards teams in East Renfrewshire, Angus and South Ayrshire. It aims to increase awareness of the simple practical solutions in order to prevent scamming of people who are living with dementia. The project is in its third year and has helped hundreds of families who are living with dementia to avoid scams and unwanted cold callers. Feedback shows an increase in confidence and in the ability to maintain an independent life. One recipient of the call blocker said:

“Months ago, I was distressed by nuisance calls, so I am so glad I have the call blocker.”

Another said:

“It’s amazing how it has worked. We used to receive several calls a day—now none.”

The Life Changes Trust’s simple project has helped to restore peace of mind to 805 households since 2013, and has prevented up to an estimated £2 million of financial loss. Trading standards Scotland is an integral part of preventing financial scams.

Financial scam prevention can be simple. Beyond call blocking, local police in Aberdeen, for example, have used their monthly bulletin to warn residents of rogue traders and bogus callers. That grass-roots effort utilises existing channels in a cost-effective way in order to help to prevent scams. The police in Dumbarton organised a walkabout to raise awareness, after a local pensioner was scammed out of a four-figure sum. The commitment of the Dumbarton police in their efforts to prevent such incidents from continuing is to be commended. Providing “No cold calling” stickers for doors and a list of local trusted traders is another simple way to prevent financial scams.

Unfortunately, even when someone is completely aware of the risks, they might choose to talk to scammers because it is better than having no one. That is tragic to me, so I hope that, as a Parliament, we will increase our efforts to have a more connected Scotland. There are befriending networks, community classes, men’s sheds and a plethora of third sector programmes to combat social isolation.

Let me touch on John’s story one more time. After suffering his £100,000 loss, the trading standards scam prevention team in his local council helped in a number of ways. John’s daughter obtained a power of attorney over his welfare and financial matters. He received a free nuisance call blocker to stop all unwanted scam and sales calls, and a “No cold calling” sticker for his door, his mail was redirected to his attorney and a list of trusted traders was supplied to him and his family for future use. Finally, John has joined a local supported art class and feels less isolated, and his anxiety levels are drastically reduced.

Let us prevent the need for anyone to feel the need to trust foreign princes with their money.

In conclusion, preventing financial scams is imperative to community safety. With technology and—likewise—scams becoming more sophisticated every year, we must protect our citizens. The new economic crime strategic board is working with

“senior figures from the UK financial sector”

to tackle those scams, but we must not wait. Let us support our local councils, police, and trading standards officers in preventing and dealing with financial scams. The issue is costing us, not only in pounds sterling, but in peace of mind for our citizens.

17:13  

I thank Maurice Corry for securing the debate on scam awareness.

“If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” That phrase comes up repeatedly when looking at financial scams and how to prevent them. It was a phrase that came up repeatedly at the tail-end of last year at a scam awareness surgery that I organised in my constituency. Experts from Citizens Advice Scotland, trading standards, Police Scotland and better off North Ayrshire all came along with information and advice on what to look out for and what people should do in order—

Excuse me, Ms Maguire. Could you pull your microphone towards you a little? I think that that might be better.

A key message to come out of the surgery was that anyone can fall for a scam, but people have a better chance of staying safe from fraudsters if they know what to look out for. That means being wary of unexpected visitors at the door, collecting for charity but with no proof of identity, or a passing trader who knocks on the door to say that your roof is missing a few slates but whose bill to fix it rises from £80 to several thousand pounds after he notices that extensive repairs are needed, or pushy sales people who ring with great discounts on new windows but put pressure on for quick decisions so that victims do not do proper checks. There are also those who use subterfuge and trickery to extract personal details from people or who impersonate their bank and empty their account.

There are signs that many of these messages are being taken on board. Recently, a gentleman visited my office to let us know that he had been approached on his doorstep by someone claiming to be a contractor for a local housing association. He said that he was doing work in the area and offered to install cavity wall insulation in my constituent’s property, saying, “Just while I’m in the area, you understand.” My constituent was immediately suspicious and sought our help in checking it out. We made some inquiries that suggested that the story was most unlikely. Trading standards officers were informed and my constituent was able to avoid what was almost certainly a dodgy deal.

Spotting and stopping financial scamming requires all of us to be and remain vigilant. It puts pressure on our local authorities, police and charities such as Citizens Advice Scotland, which need to keep up to date with the latest scams to help people avoid them, and which must deal with the consequences when, as happens far too often, people do not avoid them. The cost of that vigilance can be considerable, but the price of failing to be vigilant is heartache, misery and, in some cases, financial ruin.

I will close where I opened: if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

17:15  

I join others in thanking Maurice Corry for bringing the debate to the chamber. As his motion rightly points out, financial scamming, with the effect that it has on an individual and the community, is a serious issue of public safety.

Scamming someone out of their hard-earned money is certainly not a new phenomenon. However, with modern technology, scamming has become more prevalent and embedded in our day-to-day lives. Anyone can be conned out of money. However, the sad reality is that some people in society are more vulnerable than others, and they, unfortunately, become targets. Many of those who are scammed lose thousands of pounds, and many never see that money again. In more serious cases, financial scams can even mean that people are forced to sell their homes and declare themselves bankrupt. As Maurice Corry rightly said, it is shocking that one in eight people across Scotland is a victim of a scam and that there is an estimated £9 billion loss to the UK. I do not think that we discuss the issue enough.

Let me paint a picture. Someone hears that their favourite band has announced that they will be playing near them. They have been waiting years to see them. They have saved up all their money in order to buy what can often be a quite expensive ticket. Devastatingly, the tickets sell out in a matter of minutes. Their one final-ditch attempt is to head to the venue on the night of the concert to see if there are any last-minute tickets going spare. It is their lucky day. They pay the inflated price of the ticket to the kind individual who happened to have a ticket going spare, only to find that the ticket is fake, the seller has vanished and, when they attempt to get into the venue, they are denied access. That is becoming far too regular an occurrence and, in the case of music concerts and festivals, it is often young people on low incomes, who have saved up for the ticket, who are left out of pocket.

Those fake ticket scams are also happening online, with many second-hand ticket websites scamming customers out of the price of a ticket that sometimes never arrives. Some scammers will create an almost identical website to the original one, with only slight differences, such as the URL ending with “.net” instead of “.com”. When the website asks the unsuspecting customer for their bank details to complete the online purchase—

Will the member take an intervention?

Of course.

The member rightly points out that websites can be fake. I am sure that she will agree that one of the growing problems, which I have experienced in my surgeries, involves paper invoices being faked on the basis of intercepted emails. That can result in people receiving through the post invoices that seem convincing but that have the wrong bank account details on them.

That is absolutely right. In fact, I recall that there was a period not that long ago when MSPs were receiving similar fake emails with invoices attached. We cannot rely on a judgment that is based just on whether something is on a website or has arrived by email. Of course, some scamming is conducted face to face, too.

The sort of scams that are related to emails and websites would have probably been quite rare two decades ago, but they are now far too commonplace. As I said, scams also take place face to face. One of my constituents in Dumbarton was recently conned out of £9,000 and was left with a damaged roof—it seems that roofs are a particular theme in this debate. According to my constituent, a man approached his house and offered to carry out seemingly essential work on his roof. All my constituent had to do was pay £9,000 up front. Once he had been paid, the scammer was never seen again.

Nobody is immune to scams. We must do more to encourage the public to be vigilant in every aspect of their daily lives.

Another of my constituents, an elderly pensioner in Dumbarton, was conned out of £2,000 after he received a phone call from someone claiming to be from his bank, who said that there was a problem with his account. It is understandable, given that my constituent thought that he was talking to his bank, that he followed the caller’s advice. He paid £2,000 to rectify a problem that simply did not exist.

I associate myself with Maurice Corry’s remarks about Dumbarton police—and, indeed, all the people in L division, who are working hard to make residents aware of scams.

Scamming is never the fault of the victim. When someone, who is often very plausible, tells us that they can help us, what reason would we have for not believing them? We need to use all the tools at our disposal—awareness raising, legislation and enforcement—to crack down on the culprits in financial scams. They cannot be allowed to get away with this any longer.

17:20  

I thank Maurice Corry for bringing the important issue of financial scam prevention to a members’ business debate, and I welcome the opportunity to contribute.

We face a great problem: many of our citizens and senior citizens are vulnerable to the danger of financial scamming. We need to take appropriate measures to minimise the effect of scamming on people’s lives and to make progress towards putting an end to financial scams.

Financial scamming can happen to anyone. We live in a world of technology, which makes it easier for scammers to take advantage of people. For that reason, it is vital that we continue to push agendas and proposals that will make it harder for scammers to achieve their goals.

I am the convener of the cross-party group on dementia, where I have had the opportunity to learn about financial scams. Paul Holland, a member of East Renfrewshire Council’s prevention team who is also a member of the cross-party group, is an advocate for people who have been affected by financial scams. According to Paul Holland, it is estimated that £9 billion is lost to scams each year in the UK—Maurice Corry mentioned that. The figure speaks volumes about the problem that we face.

We need to continue to support local organisations that are doing indispensable work to help people who are harmed by financial scams.

Anyone can be the victim of a financial scam, but older adults, including those with dementia, are often targets. We want to care and provide for such people and give them the tools to live independently and free from the worry that they might be affected by a financial scam.

The Financial Conduct Authority helps with the harms that financial scams cause and places great emphasis on treating all unexpected calls, emails and text messages with caution. The people behind scams often know basic information about their target. Only last week, I received an email, through my parliamentary email account, that said that I had won $1 million. I did not reply.

The evolution of financial scams calls for different answers in the fight against them. The number of financial scams has proliferated in parallel with the growth of information technology. Email and hacking scams have replaced telephone and postal scams. The new threat affects all age groups, from the youngest to the oldest. We should therefore establish prevention techniques that meet the needs of different population profiles.

Moreover, we must continue to take steps to fight professional scammers. As the Justice Committee has underlined, the first step is to support victims of scams, through guidance. For the younger generation, prevention can be enhanced through education. It is imperative that the younger generation continues to develop computer skills at school, and such education can help to prevent exposure to scams on the internet. Teaching young people to recognise and avoid internet scams appears to be an essential solution.

As for older adults, we should consider offering them training on digital tools to prevent financial scams. Maybe I should take up such training. New technologies occupy an increasingly important place in our lives and their development constitutes a digital revolution. However, given the derivatives that such technologies are able to generate, we should understand the importance of efficient prevention.

Protection from abuse and financial scams is a fundamental right of our older adults. Elders being scammed is a human rights violation that infringes article 25 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union—I am not sure whether I can talk about that nowadays—which

“recognises and respects the rights”

of older people

“to lead a life of dignity and independence and to participate in social and cultural life”.

The fight against financial scams will not be won in a single day, but the long-term work to prevent the risk of it seems more necessary than ever. I again thank Maurice Corry for bringing this really important issue to the chamber today.

17:25  

Age UK has described fraud as a challenge that we face as a whole society, and fraud has been identified as one of the most numerous types of crime. Fraud is a crime in which some kind of deception is used for personal gain, and it can have devastating effects on a person’s life. Not only can fraud leave people penniless, but it can have serious long-term and lasting consequences on their health and wellbeing.

Fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated and can scam people by post, by phone, online or in person. It is important that we raise awareness of such schemes to prevent more people’s lives being affected by those who make it their job to con people out of their hard-earned money and life savings.

Fraud is a crime that affects people of all ages, but older people are often more at risk because of their circumstances. As we have heard, older people may be isolated, lonely or in mental decline and may be more likely to respond to scams. Indeed, two fifths of older people in Scotland—amounting to 400,000 people—believe that they have been targeted by a scam in the past 12 months. They are more likely to be vulnerable to particular types of fraud, such as doorstep scams, phone scams and pension scams. Age UK’s report on scamming noted that the average age of victims of mass marketing postal fraud is 75. That includes lottery and prize scams, and scams that can often seem so legitimate that people take them forward.

That is why it is important that all people, but particularly older people, are educated on ways of determining scams of all kinds. Charities and organisations can provide helpful information and advice; for example, friends against scams is a national trading standards scams team initiative that aims to protect people and prevent them from becoming victims of fraud by empowering individuals and communities to take a stand against scams. City of Edinburgh Council has partnered with organisations, with staff undertaking friends’ pledges as a method of spreading awareness of scamming in the hope of having a domino effect across the city.

Charities such as Age Scotland and Think Jessica have helplines that are available to anyone who is affected by a scam; people are encouraged to report a scam to the police in order to help their fraud teams to tackle the problem. ACE IT, a charity that is based in Edinburgh, provides community-based computer training for people aged over 50. It seeks to encourage new and non-confident users to learn basic computer skills and to work out what is a scam and what is not.

There is help out there, but we need to ensure that people know about it. We need to encourage people to speak to their loved ones, friends and neighbours about the different types of scams that are out there, and how they might have fallen into the trap.

I ask the Scottish Government to undertake more detailed research to understand the extent and impact of fraudulent schemes, and to do what it can to ensure that people are aware of what is going on. Without public safety campaigns or people talking about the subject, more and more people will be affected by scams.

I thank my colleague for securing this members’ business debate. It is a vital subject that we should not be scared to talk about. We should be shouting from the rooftops, “Don’t do it!”

17:29  

I congratulate Maurice Corry on securing debating time on an important issue that has concerned me for many years. I ran an extensive information campaign in my constituency on this topic.

It is estimated that over 250,000 people in Scotland fall victim to scams each year, losing hundreds if not thousands of pounds. In 2017, the average loss for scam victims aged 75 to 79 was £4,500. Annually, scams cost the Scottish economy between £500 million and £1 billion. The Office for National Statistics found that people are more likely to fall victim to fraud or cyber offences than to any other crime.

Sadly, older people are overrepresented as victims, including of pension, telephone and doorstep scams, having been targeted because of perceived vulnerability. The average age of a victim is 75. Older people living alone are more likely to be scammed than married people. Half of all people aged 75 plus live alone. Tragically, victims are often lonely, and the criminal is the only so-called friend that they have. Scammers may also intimidate and bully victims into parting with savings.

The stress and pain of victimisation can seriously impact lives and cause depression, isolation from family and friends, and a serious deterioration of physical and mental health. People who are defrauded in their own homes are two and a half times more likely to die or go into residential care within a year. Victims may go through many reactions and emotions, including anger, flashbacks, nightmares, fear of leaving the house, confusion and anxiety. The entire experience can be extremely traumatic and enduring.

Older people are also more likely to suffer repeat scams, which could be because they are overtrusting, socially isolated or suffering from dementia. Chronic victims often refuse to believe they are being scammed and spend huge amounts of time reading, sorting and replying to scam letters. Even when someone recognises that they have been scammed, they may be too embarrassed to seek help or talk about it. It is believed that only 5 per cent of scams are reported, and seven out of 10 victims do not tell anyone, including friends and family. It is important to emphasise that victims of scamming need not feel embarrassed or ashamed. People from all walks of life and of all ages can be scammed.

There are groups and services available that not only try to stop future scamming activities, but provide support to victims. One important group is Think Jessica, a charity that is committed to protecting elderly and vulnerable people from fraud. Victim Support Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland also deliver vital support and offer guidance on where to turn. Victim Support Scotland does not offer counselling, but it can help people to understand and cope with their feelings. Victims often find it easier to speak to someone impartial than to family and friends. The groups listen and give people time to talk and begin to understand the impact that a scam has had on them, as well as help to identify and agree on any further support that may be required.

Behind each scam lie heart-breaking stories of people and their families being robbed of their entire life savings, as Maurice Corry outlined in talking about John. The Government’s national nuisance calls action plan contains a range of measures to raise awareness and is welcome in making it easier for people to protect themselves. However, the power to regulate in this area still lies with the UK Government, which—I am delighted to say—finally agreed to implement Patricia Gibson MP’s Unsolicited Marketing Communications (Company Directors) Bill on director-level responsibility, after an unnecessary three-year delay.

When the bill was introduced on 13 September 2015, only companies could be fined, which meant that company directors simply closed down the company upon which the fine had been levied and reopened under a different company name, while retaining the same staff and premises and trading as before. The bill sought to tackle the scourge of nuisance calls by legislating for company directors to be fined up to £500,000 each if they are found to be in breach of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations. The legislation came into effect on 17 December last year, the UK Government having implemented Mrs Gibson’s bill in full. Imposing fines on named company directors will have a huge impact on diminishing this scourge.

There is still much important work to be done in raising awareness and protecting people from all sorts of other scams and fraud. I look forward to seeing further developments and again congratulate Maurice Corry on securing the debate.

17:34  

I, too, thank Maurice Corry for bringing this important matter to the chamber for debate. Across my constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, people are also being defrauded. Just last week, a family contacted me for help. They had been conned out of a four-figure sum in an elaborate and very organised way, which I will go into later on. I am sure that many of us here have helped constituents who have been victims of financial scams; indeed, studies show that every 15 seconds someone in the UK loses money to a scammer.

Younger people often think that they are less likely to be hit by scams but, in fact, that is not the case. Indeed, many scammers develop particular techniques that are aimed more at young people. As we heard from Jackie Baillie, there are ticketing scams, for example, as well as online scams and subscription traps.

No part of Scottish society is immune to financial scams, and we must work together to ensure that everyone is kept safe. We should highlight how important it is that scams are reported and that people know where to get help if they need it, and we should encourage government at all levels and local authorities to support organisations to inform and educate members of the public about keeping themselves safe.

It has been mentioned that Citizens Advice Scotland has published a lot of very useful information and support for people to access to get help if they have been scammed and tips on how to prevent people from falling victim to a scam. I encourage all members—not only those in the chamber—to have a look at the online information and share it with their constituents.

Citizens Advice Scotland notes the tools that scammers use to entice their victims into parting with their money. Scammers will often create a feeling of obligation, as they are aware that most people will tend to obey requests from authority figures. They also create a sense of personal consequence, as most people will tend to avoid anything that would result in some sort of punishment. They appeal to emotions and try to create a sense of urgency. Members will see that in the example that I am about to give.

A young family in my constituency were contacted recently by what they believed to be Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs—that is what they were told—and thousands of pounds in unpaid tax were demanded from them. The scammers informed my constituent that they would be immediately arrested and taken to court if they did not pay the money straight away.

My constituent lives in a particularly remote location, and there is a two-and-a half-hour round trip to their nearest bank. The scammers insisted that the money must be paid right away, so they allowed my constituent to make a payment by an alternative method—by purchasing vouchers at the local shop and giving the details of the vouchers to the scammers. That was completely new to me.

We can see that the scammers used the four classic tools for pressuring people into giving them money: consequence, obligation, urgency and emotion.

The local shop had only a proportion of the vouchers that my constituent had been told to purchase—members might say that that was fortunate—so my constituent decided to travel to a neighbouring village to purchase more vouchers to send. Luckily, they met a family member en route, and they explained the situation to that family member, who realised that that was not a legitimate way for that money to be collected. My constituent was therefore prevented from losing any more money.

As that shows, any one of us can be a victim of a financial scam. Although some people in society are certainly more vulnerable than others, we need to get the message out to everyone that organised criminals can and will target anyone, regardless of their age or health.

I thank Citizens Advice Scotland and the many other organisations that support and help people who have fallen victim to a financial scam, and I encourage everyone to speak up and report scams if they come across them.

17:38  

Like other members, I begin by thanking Maurice Corry for bringing forward this debate. We have a clear responsibility to all our citizens—particularly those who are most vulnerable—to protect them from becoming a victim of scamming behaviour. As Dick Lyle and Gail Ross reminded us, any person can be impacted by scamming behaviour. The debate is therefore important.

Many of the examples that have been mentioned demonstrate the distress and harm that scams cause. We will all be aware of situations that have had an impact on people whom we represent—indeed, many of those have been laid out in the debate. Kenny Gibson and Jeremy Balfour were quite right to remark that the issue goes beyond the immediate financial loss, which is, of course, the primary thing that we think of when we discuss and debate such matters. We should also remember the substantial long-term impact on people’s wellbeing.

We are well aware of the prevalence of the problem. Jeremy Balfour asked about Scottish Government research into that, and I say to him and other members that, in March last year, we commissioned EKOS to review existing research and evidence on the financial cost of scams to the Scottish economy, with the intention of identifying and measuring preventative strategies that are designed to reduce the impact of scams. The research that Jeremy Balfour suggested has been undertaken. If he or any other member would like more information, we would be happy to provide it.

The Scottish Government is working with a range of partners to embed cyberresilience in our education and lifelong learning systems at all levels, so that all citizens have a fundamental awareness of cyber risk and how they can take basic but important steps to reduce that risk. However, we know—as a range of members have eloquently said—that scams do not happen just online, which is why we must undertake other activity.

The Scottish Government provided Crimestoppers Scotland with funding last year to support and empower people to speak up when they need to, in order to help to prevent and solve crime, make communities safer and reduce the likelihood of criminal behaviour. Crimestoppers is leading on the national doorstep crime campaign that will be launched next month, in partnership with Police Scotland, Neighbourhood Watch Scotland and trading standards. The campaign will focus on raising awareness among the over-60s of bogus callers and rogue traders.

We often think that scams affect older people, but Jackie Baillie and Gail Ross were right to say that the issue impacts young people, too.

Through partnership working, we will continue to increase consumer awareness of scams. In June each year, Citizens Advice Scotland runs scams awareness month, and it undertakes additional scams campaigning. It works with local trading standards teams throughout the country and the majority of citizens advice bureaux to ensure that activities take place locally. In 2018, Citizens Advice Scotland worked with Young Scot—that reminds us that the issue affects young people—as well as Police Scotland and many local authorities on a range of activity that gained a huge amount of social media and local and national newspaper coverage in the delivery of a successful campaign.

We need to do more than education and awareness raising, important as they are. We must also recognise how businesses can play a role. Last year, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Economy and Fair Work supported the Royal Bank of Scotland in its launch of “The Little Book of Cyber Scams” and its cyberfraud prevention initiative, which is designed to better protect vulnerable customers. The new system involves Police Scotland, the banking sector and trading standards. Launched in March last year, it prevented more than £5 million of fraud in 2018 and led to a number of arrests. Most of the potential victims were over 65 and there was a range of scamming behaviour.

The protocol kicks in when bank staff suspect that a customer might be about to fall victim to a scam—that often happens when they ask to withdraw an unusually large sum of money. The bank alerts the police, and officers attend the branch with a guaranteed priority response. I commend that initiative, from which many other businesses can learn.

Just as the matter is not only for education and awareness raising, so we should not be looking just to business to take action. We must take action as an Administration and collectively as parliamentarians.

I think that we sometimes forget the importance of trading standards officers. I have seen how effective they are in my region, even though they are few and far between. Does the minister agree that it would be better to focus more finance into that service? Trading standards officers are effective and gain a lot of intelligence on the ground. I have seen them in operation, and they have been very effective in the West Scotland region and in the Helensburgh and Lomond area, in particular.

I greatly value the work of trading standards officers. I have worked very closely with them on a range of activities that our Administration has undertaken, including our initiative to ensure that people are not being ripped off with high delivery charges. Trading standards have an important role to play in that regard. I have had the pleasure of meeting representatives of trading standards officers recently, to discuss what additional work we can do together. I will always be very willing to meet them to discuss such matters.

I recognise the important role that trading standards officers play. Indeed, in 2017, we provided funding of £125,000 to Trading Standards Scotland for the purchase and roll-out of call-blocking devices—Maurice Corry mentioned their effectiveness—which led to the blocking of 100,000 calls and the prevention of an estimated 171 scams, with nearly £605,000 saved.

We will act as a Government and work with others, including trading standards officers. I commend Kenneth Gibson and Ruth Maguire for their local activities to emphasise not only the role that the Government plays, but the role that each of us can play as parliamentarians. They reminded us that this is a shared agenda, with all of us collectively taking concerns about scams seriously. Together, let us resolve to continue to undertake activity to reduce scams and protect all our citizens.

Meeting closed at 17:47.