NCA to launch crackdown on cross-border fraudsters

CROSS-BORDER scams are costing Europeans billions of euro each year but a crackdown being launched today should make life harder for the fraudsters.

Up to now the Irish authorities trying to track down for instance on bogus lottery letters from Spain have run into difficulties making catching the con artists almost impossible.

From today the National Consumer Agency (NCA) in Ireland and the EU’s other member states will be able to work together to track the criminals cross-border and put them out of business.

Consumer Affairs Commissioner Meglena Kuneva said the powers could result in freezing the assets of the fraudsters and preventing them causing more harm to consumers and honest traders.

“Con artists are using mass e-mails or false promises of big earnings to trap vulnerable people. The fraudsters are clever — taking advantage of different legal systems across the EU to target vulnerable people. Their crafty schemes, such as personalising letters and making them look professional, are costing EU consumers millions of euros,” she said.

Nobody is certain of the full extent of the scams but in Britain alone they believe they cost the economy about €5 billion a year. More than three million adults are caught for an average of €1,500 each annually.

And at least a third of victims are caught a second time because they are placed on a “suckers list” and targeted again by fraudsters.

The scams that cost people in Britain most are bogus holiday clubs, investment scams, pyramid and get-rich-quick schemes and fake foreign lotteries.

The EU wide clamp down targets all these and a range of other issues including misleading advertising, package holidays, timeshare and distance selling under the EU Cross Border Co-operation Regulation.

The new Consumer Protection Cooperation Network gives wide-ranging powers to national consumer agencies to help one another follow up complaints.

When they have a reasonable suspicion of a fraud they can access relevant documents and information; carry out on-site inspections; ask the seller or supplier to stop and to pay reparations and to take them to court.

If you have a problem with a cross-border trader, you can contact the National Consumer Agency on their helpline, 1890 432432 or the European Consumer Centre, 13A Upper O’Connell Street, Dublin 1 Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone]. Email: [e-mail]