viewpoint Giving someone a bad press can be right thing, says Terry Wardle


We need to campaign to drive out scammers


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ampaigning, other than on innocuous issues, seems to be a thing of the past for many local newspapers,


and has never been a feature of most specialist news websites. Yet there has never been more need for campaigning journalists, with many businesses and members of the public suffering the consequences of illegal acts by clever criminals against whom law enforcement agencies see themselves as helpless. I’m talking about the news earlier


this year that only one in 100 online crimes leads to a prosecution. This means, using last year’s figures, that they are walking away with almost £200 billion a year.


City of London police commissioner


Ian Dyson is on record as saying that the police simply cannot cope with the number of online crimes, and suggests that people need to be more aware of online risks. Oh yeah? If grannies were being bashed over the head for their pension on the way back from the post office, would he suggest the solution was for them to be more aware of the risks? I doubt it. Clearly, the people paid to protect the public are not going to shield them from online crime, which means there is still an important campaigning role to be played by journalists and publications with the courage to stand up for their readers. And I know from experience that it’s possible to make a big difference. For eight years to May last year, I ran


a magazine aimed at officially accredited assessors who carry out energy efficiency surveys for house buyers (EAM) – an online title and the


only UK energy assessor publication. I came across a number of outfits that were out to con assessors, and sometimes the public as well, but only one was prosecuted. One company – not prosecuted –


began emailing assessors in 2015, offering regular work in return for an upfront fee approaching £2,000. The assessors who paid got no work, nor the refunds they pressed for. EAM gave the company every


chance to respond to criticism, and challenged them to prove their claim that work was available. It began monthly news articles on assessors who had lost money. With our encouragement, the assessors who had been caught out formed into a group and, individually and collectively, spent months badgering the police, trading standards departments, fraud agencies, banks, Companies House and anyone else they thought might take action. Sadly they had no success.


“ 8 For all the latest news from the NUJ go to www.nuj.org.uk ” theJournalist | 9


The attention saved others from losing cash. Within nine months, that company had disappeared from the industry


Only the magazine had been prepared to stand up for them. Although we had


no powers to get their money back, the attention saved others from losing cash. Within nine months, that company had disappeared from the energy assessor industry, deterred by the continual bad press, and the last I heard they were emailing the same offer to plumbers and heating engineers. When I investigated, I


found links to other companies that had been running the same scam in that industry for nine years. How had they got away with it for so long? Simple! I couldn’t find a publication in the sector that would say ‘boo’ to them. One said that, if pressed, they would run (yawn) another warning about replying to ‘business opportunity’ offers. But they said they said they wouldn’t name the company. Why not? Is it Hug a Scammer Day? I’m certainly in favour of handing a


file over and standing back while officialdom runs a thorough investigation and hopefully launches a prosecution, but anyone who thinks that’s likely to happen with the vast majority of online scams must be visiting from a parallel universe. If we don’t stand up for our readers


who become the victims of online crime, then it’s likely that no one will.


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