Correspondence Purporting To Be From Trading Standards Professional Body

We’re asking you to be vigilant as fraudsters are sending out letters & emails purporting to be from the Trading Standards Professional Body; The Chartered Trading Standards Institute, (CTSI).

We’re aware that correspondence carrying the CTSI branding is currently in circulation where fraudsters are suggesting insurance scammers have been apprehended. This letter or email goes on to request that consumers complete a ‘creditors debt form’ suggesting that compensation will be paid out but, in actual fact, serves as a means for fraudsters to gain access to personal details including bank information.

Evidence suggests that those receiving the letters are on ‘target lists’ having previously been victims of different scams.

This letter is a scam and is not in any way connected to the Trading Standards professional body, CTSI, so please stay vigilant and do not respond to these letters or emails.

Chief Executive at CTSI, John Herriman, said: “These scammers show no sign of slowing down and although Trading Standards are working hard to take action against these despicable individuals it is important that the public are on guard and do not respond to letters or emails that appear to be from genuine organisations, like CTSI. Trading Standards are the very people that protect the public, so to see scams targeting our good name in this way is appalling and we want to raise as much awareness about this as possible to stop consumers being defrauded out of their hard-earned cash. We often see fraudsters impersonating trusted brands to deceive the public but impersonating the very essence of those that protect consumers by pretending to be Trading Standards is disgusting and shows that these criminals have no limitations to how far they are willing to go to defraud people of their savings.”

Anyone who receives a letter of this nature letter should contact the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and their local Trading Standards Service.

Financial Conduct Authority | FCA

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