NEW FRAUD CAMPAIGN

 “Alright, love. Listen, that call sounds like a scam.”  These are the first words of advice spoken by our pink and perky sock puppet Claude, the face of our new fraud-fighting campaign. He’s bright pink, with a shock of yellow hair, a blue nose and four goofy teeth – all of which make him quite a memorable mascot…  

Claude’s mission is to #SockItToTheScammers by raising awareness of sophisticated scams, and to try and prevent the long-term stress and financial loss that fraud victims endure. And to do that, the puppet has three simple tips: Stop! Think! Tell!  Now, we know this might not be the most conventional crime-fighting campaign – but with fraud reports continually on the rise, we want to try something different. Our aim is to get the videos in front of as many people as we can, in the hope that not only will they be alerted to the tactics of fraudsters, but that they will also share the crime prevention tips and advice with family, friends and neighbours who might not be online.

While older people and those who are more vulnerable can be targeted by scammers, we know that they are not alone, and anyone can become a victim to these types of scams. The launch comes as criminals continue to target people here in Derbyshire, with one courier fraud victim being tricked out of nearly £20,000 by scammers pretending to be from her bank.

Tammy Barnes, Derbyshire Constabulary’s Fraud Protect Officer, said: “The impact these crimes have on victims really cannot be understated. People are tricked into putting their faith in the person at the other end of the phone and when that faith is shattered, their whole world just grinds to a halt. We commonly see most victims regardless of age, can be scared, embarrassed, and often confused as to how it could have so easily happened to them. They’re just absolutely devastated to have fallen for it. That’s why we need to try something completely different with Claude, so we can make sure people know how they can protect themselves when a fraudster targets them – because the likelihood is, at some point, they will.”

Each short clip will focus on a different type of fraud, with the first one on courier fraud. You can watch the video on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/y_z2CTIxwiI