ScamwiseNI Partnership has today, Thursday 19th September, launched a new Scamwise Champion Scheme, which is designed to empower young people to stay safe from scams and know how to report them.
Working in Partnership with six uniformed youth organisations – Girlguiding Ulster, The Scouts, The Boys’ Brigade, The Girls’ Brigade, Scouting Ireland and Catholic Guides – we have developed a resource booklet which group leaders can deliver 10 to 18 year-olds, with a number of challenges to be completed.
After completing a range of activities, participants will receive a Scamwise badge and certificate.
There are approximately 16,000 young people who are members of the six uniformed organisations throughout Northern Ireland. All six uniformed organisations took part in a successful pilot scheme, which ran from December 2018 to February 2019.
Kelly Gallagher MBE, winner of Britain’s first winter Paralympic gold medal at the Sochi 2014 winter games, will be presenting the first Scamwise Champion badges at the launch event.
Discussing the Scheme see above, Chair of the ScamwiseNI Partnership Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said:
“We are delighted to have been able to work with the six uniformed organisations to launch the Scamwise Champion Scheme. We have produced a fantastic youth work resource which, in an imaginative, creative and engaging way of warning young people of the risks of scams.
“The resource booklet has a number of challenges, which range from quizzes, colouring in a bookmark, to delivering scam messages to people living in the local community. The challenges are supported by educational resources, which include a leaflet entitled ‘Know the signs…to stop the crime’ and ‘Spot a Scam mail’ leaflet.
“The Scheme see above is a great opportunity for young people in Northern Ireland to learn about scams and to become scamwise.”
Speaking at the event, Kelly Gallagher MBE said:
“Empowering our young people to be confident and capable through developing new skills and sharing experiences is vital. Everyone involved in the ‘Scamwise Champion’ initiative is showing a real commitment not only by giving up their personal time, but also ensuring that they are passing their skills and knowledge to other family members and friends. This new initiative shows how each of the youth organisations are moving with the times and giving our young people life skills that will keep them and their families safe.”
Speaking about the Scheme above, Chief Executive of The Consumer Council, John French said:
“Our research shows that less than half of the Northern Ireland population know where to report a scam, which is concerning as almost one-third of the population has been targeted by a scam in the last three years.
“In this digital age, in which our young population are high digital users, email is the most common method of scam with 74 per cent of the population targeted by email scam and 18 per cent targeted by fake websites. *
“It is important that we educate young people on how to spot and report scams, so that they will be able to use this knowledge and also pass it on to family and friends.”
As part of the launch event we have developed a short video highlighting the scheme which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/hvhbzkalqBM
For more information on ScamwiseNI, visit www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/scamwiseni<http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/scamwiseni> @scamwiseni Facebook page
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For further information, please contact the Police Service Corporate communications Department on 028 9070 0084/85
