Friends Against Scams Organisations

Friends Against Scams Organisations What is ‘Friends Against Scams’?

Friends Against Scams is a National Trading Standards Scams Team initiative which aims to protect and prevent people from becoming victims of scams by empowering communities and businesses to take a stand against scams.

Scams affect the lives of millions of people across the UK. People who are scammed often experience loneliness, shame and social isolation. Friends Against Scams aims to inspire action, highlight the scale of the problem, change the perceptions of why people fall victim to scams and make scams a local, regional and national topic.

By attending a ‘Friends Against Scams’ awareness session or completing our online training, anyone can learn about the different types of scams and how to spot and support a victim. With increased knowledge and awareness, people can make scams part of everyday conversation with their family, friends and neighbours, which will enable them to protect themselves and others from scams.

Anyone can be a Friend Against Scams and make a difference in their own way.

What Is A Friends Against Scams (FAS) Organisation?

A ‘Friends Against Scams Organisation’ is a charity, organisation or businesses that promotes and supports the Friends Against Scams initiative. It is free to become a FAS Organisation.

A FAS Organisation will need to make a pledge about how they are going to actively promote the FAS initiative and then deliver that pledge.

The easiest way for an organisation to do this is by pledging to make all of their employees ‘Friends’. Organisations, however, may also wish to encourage their customers to become ‘Friends’ as well. There are a number of options available to help you achieve your pledge: Option 1 – Encourage staff and customers to become ‘Friends’ through online learning  Your can direct your staff or customers to our online learning at any time by visiting www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk/elearning  This training takes around 20 minutes to complete  All training is logged on to our system and the numbers of people trained are updated automatically Option 2 – Nominate a SCAMchampions within your organisation to deliver face to face ‘Friends’ training sessions  This option is suitable for anyone who enjoys delivering training and wants to take a lead on scams within your organisation.  You can have one or more SCAMchampions for your organisation.

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All SCAMchampions would need to complete the Friends Against Scams training as well as advanced training to increase their knowledge further. They would then be able to deliver the Friends Against Scams messages on behalf of your organisation.

SCAMchampions receive access to training and support materials that can be easily downloaded from our website.

SCAMchampions will need to log the number of people they have trained on our system so that our counters can be updated.

Option 3 –Staff/Customers become ‘Friends’ by attending a face to face awareness session  Your staff and customers can attend a Friends Against Scams face to face awareness session held around the country.  To find a session, simply visit our website - www.friendsagainstscams.org.uk and book a session.  Please note that, unfortunately, sessions are not yet available in all areas of the country.

What are the criteria for becoming a FAS Organisation?

Whilst we would like to encourage as many organisations and companies to join us in scams awareness work, the integrity of Friends Against Scams is on the utmost importance to us.

If you meet the criteria below, then we would welcome an application from you, however, please be aware that as part of the application process, we run a series of due diligence checks.

To make an application, you need to:   

Demonstrate the pro-active work that your organisation or company is already undertaking on scams prevention.

Demonstrate that your company and or organisation has a minimum 18 months of trading history Pass any relevant company and director checks. We would also expect online feedback regarding your organisation/company to be positive

Please note that even if you meet the criteria above, your application will only be accepted at the discretion of the FAS management team as we may deem certain areas of trading unsuitable for association with the scheme.

How can I apply to be a FAS Organisation?

Simply email us at friendsagainstscams@surreycc.gov.uk to let us know that you would like to become an FAS organisation and we will send you an application form.

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Once your application is returned to us, then we will process your application as quickly as possible. Please note that we may need to undertake some due diligence checks to ensure your suitability for becoming an FAS Organisation, which may involve contacting your local Trading Standards Service.

How can I publicise that we are a FAS Organisation?

Once you have been accepted as a FAS organisation, you will receive a confirmation email and a certificate. We would encourage you to:     

Print and display our Friends Against Scams materials and staff certificates within your organisation.

Publish your involvement in your newsletters and communications.

Tweet about your support of Friends Against Scams using the hash tag #FriendsAgainstScams and the handle @againstscams i.e “ ………are taking a stand against scams #FriendsAgainstScams”.

Add your Friends Against Scams status to your organisation website and other social media pages, i.e. Facebook.

Encourage your staff to share their Friends Against Scams status.

You will also receive a copy of our logo along with guidelines about how you can use this logo. Please note, however, that our logo cannot be used to endorse any products or services that you may provide.

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