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TH!NK Jessica - Protecting Elderly and Vulnerable People from Fraud

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Shortly after her mother Jessica died in 2007, Marilyn started the Think Jessica campaign.

Her aim was, firstly, to shock the government and postal services into taking action and protecting others like her Mum.

Secondly, she wanted to educate professionals about the powerful psychology criminals use to trap their targets, and how it is strong enough to turn them against their loved ones and those trying to help them.

Think Jessica is now a registered charity supported by countless agencies, organisations and police forces nationwide, which have joined forces to make people aware of the danger, and financial implications, of scams which target people in their own homes.

Along with awareness-raising events, Think Jessica organises national poster campaigns. Scam Mail is Black Mail, Silence of the Scams, Scam Trap and Vulture Crime are all hard-hitting posters which have been displayed on billboards in train stations, supermarkets and shopping centres nationally.

Think Jessica banners warning people about scams, and advertising free educational material have been displayed on hundreds of buses.

Over the years Think Jessica has gained a lot of media interest. Marilyn has become a regular face on TV. She has given interviews on GMTV, This Morning, BBC Breakfast, Daybreak, Tonight, Panorama, You’ve Been Scammed, One Show, Fake Britain, Crime Watch, Inside Out, Working Lunch, ITV’s Hunting the Doorstep Con Men, Sunday Politics, You & Yours, Jeremy Vine and many other national and local TV and radio programmes.

Marilyn also gives presentations which highlight the mindset of victims like her mother; and the frustration and helplessness faced by the relatives of ‘silent’ victims of fraud.

In 2013 Marilyn was voted ITV’s Lorraine’s Inspirational Woman of the Year. In 2014 she received an OBE for her voluntary work with the Metropolitan police, which resulted in the first seizure of scam mail as it entered the UK.

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