- Conference
- 2021 National Disabled Members' Conference
- Date
- 8 July 2021
- Decision
- Carried
Conference is concerned about the increase in scams during Covid 19 and particularly how this has impacted on Deaf people who are native British Sign Language (BSL) users.
Covid scammers are criminals who use the publicity around coronavirus as a chance to target people. They try to take advantage of people’s worries and uncertainty about the pandemic, especially those who are alone, self-isolating or in financial difficulty.
Covid scammers operate through fraudulent emails, phone calls, texts messages or social media posts and door-to-door visits. Many Deaf people are more vulnerable to these scams as written English is a second or other language and Deaf people also have barriers to communicating with strangers.
Coronavirus-related scams include:
a) people claiming to be able to arrange a COVID-19 vaccine for a charge
b) sales of fake products such as face masks or medical equipment which may be harmful or simply never arrive
c) bogus healthcare workers who try to gain access to the home by claiming to offer testing for COVID-19
d) people pretending to be from charities offering to do shopping
e) emails and texts asking for donations to the NHS
f) emails or texts pretending to be from the government
g) emails offering life insurance against Coronavirus.
Conference notes that over a decade of government cuts to public services has seen local council Trading Standards services decimated , with very little resources left to investigate scams.
Conference therefore calls on the National Disabled members Committee to:
1. Support appropriate campaigns to stop the Covid scammers
2. Research and publicise the advice available from appropriate agencies
3. Raise this issue with branches and regions so that isolated Deaf members get the support they need
4. Work with the local government service group to campaign for increased funding for trading standards services.