ALCESTER residents are being urged to make sure they are scam savvy during national Scam Awareness Month taking place throughout May.

Research has suggested that an estimated 28 million UK consumers are targeted each year by post, telephone, email and Internet scams and that more than three million of them have fallen victim, collectively losing £3.5billion.

Scam Awareness Month gives focus to the problem and consumers are invited to tell Warwickshire Trading Standards about scams they spot, sign up to regular alerts, visit scam events being held at shopping centres and take on board some scam busting tips.

David Gooding, chair of the Consumer Empowerment Partnership, said: “Whether it comes through the post, down the phone line, over the Internet or appears on the doorstep, there is a scam, hoax, fraud, swindle or cheat for every day of the year.

“We will be using this month to highlight the many and varied ways criminal gangs target both consumers and businesses, offering them practical advice on how they can spot scams and stop them.”

Janet Faulkner, head of Warwickshire Trading Standards, added: “Each week the partnership will concentrate on a different type of scam, beginning with online scams. Our goal is to raise awareness of these many scams, how to spot them and how to protect vulnerable people from falling victim.”

For more information on the kind of scams out there and how to avoid them visit warwickshire.gov.uk/scams.

To report a scam or fraud call 0300 123 2040.