Costly scams

Scams cost elderly lady £20,000

For most people junk mail is just an irritation. But in some cases the irritation can turn into a financial catastrophe.

Hilary Pittam from West Wales has been picking up the pieces after her 80 year old mother died in January.

Sorting through her things, Hilary has found piles and piles of junk mail. The more she looked through it, the more worried and upset she has become.

It turns out that her mother paid thousands of pounds out to bogus prize schemes and scams.

Duped for years

Gladys, Hilary's mum, had been targeted for the last two years of her life, mainly by groups sending her letters, phoning her and even coming round to her house. Each time they persuaded her to part with another slice of her savings.

Hilary has had Gladys's post redirected to her own address, and she's been literally bombarded. She still gets dozens of the letters each delivery. A daily reminder of how her mum was victimised.

Promise of prize money

The letters, from all over the world promise prizes for sometimes huge amounts, but for each so-called prize, a small administration fee has to be paid.

Hilary: "We've had over 600 letters forwarded to us"

This is where the catch lies. Because once you reply to one of these letters, your details are then filed and frequently sold on to other unscrupulous merchants.

Hilary has also discovered that some of the scamsters had been taking regular amounts from her mother's credit card account to the tune of £300 per month.

According to Trading Standards, Hilary's story is not uncommon. They receive thousands of letters from members of the public who have been duped by 'special offers' and 'prize' money.

Hilary has tried to get the mail stopped, but it's hard. Some companies are willing to stop sending the letters, but others are hard to trace, or unco-operative.

Frightened

Discovering how much her mother might have lost has been traumatic enough. But there's also the worry that Gladys might have been frightened in her last few months.

Hilary has found letters from a supposed clairvoyant hinting at worries about her future and asking for sums of money to be paid over.

Help

It's too late for Gladys to get any help now, but if you are in receipt of these type of scam letters and feel threatened or harassed in any way, there is something you can do.

The Department of Trade and Industry and the Trading Standards have set up a joint helpline and website, "Ripoff-Tipoff".

The service offers help and advice and you can also pass on details of schemes that are targetting you.

In general though, if you've got to pay a fee to get a prize, think again. And if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.