Council action keeps over £500,000 from crooks

Cheshire East Council’s trading standards investigations team prevented more than £596,000 falling into the hands of criminals last year and seized tens of thousands of pounds worth of illegal goods.

The team investigates consumer and business crimes such as fraud, rogue trading, counterfeit goods, doorstep crime, illegal money-lending and scams.

In 2017/18, it prevented £162,400 being lost by victims to scams and mass marketing. Through intervention services – such as home visits and giving advice to concerned residents – a further £434,000 was stopped from being handed over to criminals.

During the same 12 months, the team also seized £132,000 of illegal goods and cash linked with criminality, as well as restraining criminal assets worth £380,000, including property and cash – preventing the assets from being sold and large amounts of cash being spent while investigations were carried out.

The council has also:

• Undertaken 247 investigations and issued four formal warnings and two formal cautions;
• Prosecuted offenders, who were sentenced to a total of eight years, four months and four weeks imprisonment, two years of suspended sentences, six months of supervision orders and 140 hours’ community service;
• Seized 24.3kg and 31,989 sticks of illicit tobacco – worth £60,933 – and 3,012 counterfeit items worth a total of £61,582;
• Executed five entry/search warrants;
• Carried out seven covert operations to test if retailers were selling alcohol, tobacco and tobacco products to underage people;
• Reviewed 585 webpages linked to online trade crime;
• Made 24 visits to vulnerable people who were victims of crime and put safeguarding measures in place;
• Worked with 97 banks and financial institutions to implement the banking protocol as part of a trading standards doorstep crime and rogue trader project;
• Handed out more than 5,000 nominated neighbour packs out into the community, helping to tackle bogus callers and workmen and other kinds of distraction thefts; and
• Delivered 27 community and partnership presentations to almost 500 people in identified ‘hot spot’ areas, covering topics such as scams and rogue traders.

Councillor Janet Clowes, Cheshire East Council cabinet member for adult social care and integration, which includes responsibility for safer communities, said: “The enforcement action taken by this council over the past 12 months is clear evidence that we will do all we can to disrupt criminal activity and help safeguard our residents and honest businesses.

“Although it is often people in vulnerable circumstances who are targeted by criminals, in fact anyone can fall victim to a scam and millions of people are affected across the UK each year. Sadly, many of those victims suffer in silence.

“I urge anyone who thinks they may have been the victim of a scam, or believes they are being targeted, to report it to the Citizens Advice Consumer Service on 03454 04 05 06. I would also urge residents and businesses to find out how to spot scams and other consumer and business crime.”

Advice and information for both consumers and businesses is available on the council’s website.