During Rogue Trader Action Week North Wales Trading Standards Services joined forces to launch a project to engage with printing businesses across the region. Those producing leaflets and flyers commonly used by traders to directly promote services on the doorstep are the main focus.
Evidence from doorstep crime victims often portrays the perpetrators as plausible and professional when soliciting for work. Criminals frequently target residential areas with leaflets or flyers before cold calling with the intent of fraud. Although a legitimate form of advertising they have been found to omit statutory business information, mislead consumers and provide no route for redress or for trading standards officers to investigate their origin. Commonly these flyers are an A5 promotional card depicting gardening or roofing services with bold references to ‘OAP discounts’, ‘no job too big or small’ and ‘cooling off periods’.
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Larger production runs are provided commercially by online or local printing businesses. Our engagement with local printers across our region will highlight the risk to consumers, advise businesses, encourage business compliance and is an opportunity to reduce the volume of anonymous and untraceable leaflets within communities.
Richard Powell, Chair of North Wales Trading Standards said “Rogue traders continue to cause many problems for consumers across North Wales and many try to hide behind this legitimate form of advertising. This project is aimed at helping printing businesses understand the laws they have to comply with and at the same time make it more difficult for rogue traders to hide behind this form of advertising.”
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