Wales Against Scams Partnership (WASP)
Published on 22 March 2016 09:00 AM
Age Cymru is part of a new Wales-wide partnership of organisations that are going to work together to protect the Welsh public from scams.
The Wales Against Scams Partnership (WASP), is launching today at the National Trading Standards and Consumer Empowerment conference in Cardiff.
WASP is a coalition of police forces, police and crime commissioners, Trading Standards, banks, utility companies, local government, Age Cymru and the Older People's Commissioner for Wales and is the first venture of its kind in the UK.
"Being scammed or targeted by fraud can have a shocking effect on some of the most vulnerable people in Wales and at least 150,000 people in Wales are believed to be victims of scams each year", said Ian Thomas, Chief Executive of Age Cymru.
"Scams target everyone and all of us could fall prey to them, but older people suffer twice the detriment that younger people do and it is estimated that older victims lose on average £1,200 each.
"We believe Wales can lead in presenting a united front against scams and making itself a hostile country to scammers and the launch of WASP today is the start of that process."