Scam mail from fraudsters should be seized, says MP

Posted by admin Sunday, January 23, 2011 0 komentar

An MP has called for police and customers officers to intercept scam mail from fraudsters to protect vulnerable people.

Tory MP Caroline Nokes told the Commons that some victims get more than 100 letters a day such as fake lottery and business letters. Every year people lose a combined £3.5 billion to scams.

Criminals also use emails and the telephone to target their victims. Nokes said police know how some scam mail enters the country but do not have the power to stop it. Scam letters are usually easy to identify.

She proposed a bill that would allow the police, customers officers and the National Fraud Authority to intercept scam mail. She is also keen for Royal Mail to disclose the details of potential victims to the local trading standards service.

"I do not suggest for one moment that there should be a blanket power to intercept mail without a warrant, but such mail is easy to identify, the same victims are being targeted hundreds and hundreds of times over and it ought not to be impossible to introduce appropriate safeguards against breaches of human rights," she said.