A LIST of the top ten cons has been issued at the launch of Scam Awareness Month.

Trading standards officers in Swindon have joined forces with the Office of Fair Trading to launch the campaign, which aims to make consumers more wary of potential pitfalls.

UK consumers lose an estimated £1 billion per year to a variety of cons, many of which originate from overseas, making detection and prosecution more difficult.

Coun Jemima Milton, Swindon Council's cabinet member for environment and transport, is right behind the initiative.

She said: "These scams are to the detriment of consumers. We must protect vulnerable people from these unscrupulous conmen."

Many of the scams involve unsolicited phone calls or letters telling people they have won a prize or have the chance to make money.

But most of them ask for an initial fee. Once that is paid, the prize or investment never materialises and people are left out of pocket.

Robert Taylour, public protection group leader, said: "The best way to prevent these scams is for consumers to stop sending money. This is always more effective than trying to catch the criminals after they have already conned consumers out of their money.

"Part of our role is to provide the public with the knowledge they need to recognise these scams."

Trading standards officers are aware of a number of cons that seem to catch out unwary consumers out time and time again.

These include the telephone lottery scam, where victims are called at home and told they have won a lottery prize but asked to send an administration fee to release the funds.

Another popular approach by conmen is to ask victims to call a premium rate 090 telephone number to claim a prize.

A classic con is the Nigerian advance fee fraud. Victims are offered to share a huge sum of money in return for using the recipient's bank account to transfer the money out of the country.

Pyramid schemes are one of the more recent cons that have come to the attention of trading standards officers.

Those taking part are offered a return on a financial investment.

However, at some point, those at the bottom of the scheme will not be able to meet the financial demannds placed on them to recoup their investment and can lose thousands of pounds.

Isabel Field