Charity: 'Scammers Have Never Had It So Good'

Con artists in the UK are thriving during the recession by coming up with new ways to profit from the financial misery of others, Citizens Advice has warned.

The charity said 22,000 scams were reported to it in England and Wales in the last 12 months.

Financial desperation is making people more vulnerable to scams that offer loans or employment opportunities, it added.

"Opportunistic con artists are targeting people who have fallen on hard times with offers of phoney jobs, training and debt scams," Citizens Advice said in a statement.

Typical scams include persuading victims to pay upfront fees to qualify for non-existent loans or to reserve places on fictitious professional training courses, the charity said.

Citizens Advice CEO Gillian Guy said: "Scammers have never had it so good.

"For most people the recession has been really tough but it's a different story for rogues and tricksters as they've cashed-in on other people's misfortune.

"We're seeing people who have been dealt a double-blow by losing their job and then losing money while trying to find a new one."

Citizens Advice will run a campaign throughout May to raise awareness of potential scams.

Leon Livermore, from the Trading Standards Institute, said: "Trading standards officers see first hand the impact these unscrupulous fraudsters are having on often the most vulnerable in our communities. We are working hard with other authorities to stop them."

Citizens Advice said it was worried con artists were already dreaming up new schemes to profit from proposed benefit changes, specifically the so-called Bedroom Tax and the localising of council tax support.

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