A TRADING standards chief has revealed how an unsuspecting North Dorset pensioner was conned into buying £230,000 of worthless shares.

Ivan Hancock, Dorset County Council's divisional trading standards manager, told the Daily Echo how the 83-year-old Shaftesbury man had been tricked into handing over cash for shares in a non-existent company by thieves based in Germany.

Known as a boiler room scam, the pensioner contacted Dorset Trading Standards after the council took part in a nationwide Scamnesty campaign to raise awareness of how fraudulent businesses prey on their victims by post.

Other victims included a seriously ill Wimborne man who lost several hundred pounds replying to scams from fake psychics and horse racing tipsters in the hope of gaining good fortune.

Mr Hancock said: "The Shaftesbury case was the worst in terms of the sheer amount of money involved; Mr C in Wimborne had a box of scam letters. A lot of the scams preyed on the fact that he was ill.

"In these shocking examples the consumers affected have been given further advice on how to minimise problems in the future.

"While investigations are being made into the origin of new scams that have been highlighted during Scamnesty, invariably the most effective approach to tackle the problem is through raised public awareness.

"So many are based abroad or are quick to move on."

Mr Hancock said another Dorset man had bought a product from a foreign catalogue under the promise of a prize but has since been inundated with scam letters; receiving 24 in one day.

He said: "Our advice is that if something sounds too good to be true, it is. I'd encourage people to talk to their elderly neighbours and relatives about postal scams."

David Crowhurst, the council's cabinet member for trading standards, said: "The fact that scams of this sort continue to arise means that people, including the most needy and vulnerable, do fall for them and end up losing what can be quite significant sums of money."

If you think you have received a scam letter, report it to Consumer Direct on 08454 040506 or put it in the recycling bin. Never be tempted to reply.