I wonder if other people on this forum get as irratated as I do on the constant need to be on the alert for scams and, the seeming reluctance of the authorities to do anything about it? I have been plagued by letters recently telling me that I have won a prize but not saying what the prize is. Of course I have put it straight in the shredder. However the last one to arrive I actually read the claim form and surprise, surprise, it was a direct debit mandate. I know people who have contacted their Trading Standards office about this have been told that the law is ambiguous and these people may not be commiting an offence. They claim that they do not have the resources to mount a test case. Fair enough? Not really, not when you consider that some trading standards departments are happy to finance test cases regarding the sale of R18s by mail order, a victimless crime if there ever was one.
Another scam is by use of an e-mail attachment or internet pop up, changing peoples' dial up number to a premium rate one without their knowledge. My isp has warned me about this by e-mail. Why their warning is welcome, I cannot help but think that it doesn't require a great deal of detective work for the phone companies to trace who is doing this and put a stop to it. I guess their just isn't the will to do so.