Sling your hook

We are excited to tell you more about the Neighbourhood Watch “Sling your hook” campaign running throughout July to help tackle scams.

Why ‘Sling your hook’?

The campaign taps into the psychology that scammers use to hook people in, helping you stay one step ahead and protect yourself and your loved ones against the increasing variety of scams happening every day. We’ve identified the following five behaviours scammers commonly use:

• They imply they’re doing you a favour (reciprocity)
• They indicate everyone else is doing this (social proof)
• They say your only chance is to act now (urgency)
• They act like they’re similar to you, so you like them and want to please them (connection)
• They ask you to do one little thing which makes you do more (commitment).

We also know that often victims of scams report that in hindsight they felt something wasn’t quite right at the time.  This campaign aims to raise awareness of the tactics scammers use and encourages people to ‘stop and think’ if something doesn’t FEEL, SEEM, LOOK or SOUND right.  This allows them time to trust your gut instinct and help prevent becoming a scam victim.

“Everyone likes to feel special. But watch out! If a stranger is going out of their way for you, something fishy may be going on instead. Scammers like to offer one-off deals and favours. Don’t be afraid to tell them no.”

John Hayward-Cripps, CEO of Neighbourhood Watch Network

How can you support this campaign?

• LEARN: Visit our scams website pages to learn more about common scams, preventing scams, reporting scams, supporting victims and a scams campaign toolkit
• SHARE: Follow us on our Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / LinkedIn channels and share our posts
• JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Join us for an online talk (details below)

Online Talks

Neighbourhood Watch are delivering a series of scams awareness online talks in partnership with the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit (DCPCU), the National Trading Standards Scams Team (NTSST) and Avast.

Anyone can attend, but we are now running waiting lists only for all the webinars apart from one! Last week we ran an online talk on ‘Exploring the psychology behind scams and how scammers are so effective at their crimes’. It was so popular we have decided to re-run it on 27th July, 5pm.  Click here to book your place. Please note – this event will not be recorded.

Find out more

Read more from your local Neighbourhood Watch

Read more about staying safe from scams on the national Neighbourhood Watch website