TRADING standards officials are targeting rogue traders who dupe people out of money with bogus mail and other get-rich-quick schemes.

In a new scam awareness campaign involving Kent Trading Standards, the Office of Fair Trading, (OFT) community wardens and Kent libraries, residents are being asked to collect any scam mailings and to drop them into bags in libraries across the county until February 27.

Mary Millgate, an operational supervisor for Trading Standards Advice in Ashford, said: "Many of us receive mail that tells us we have won a competition or lottery, or that we have a share of a very large sum of money reserved in our name.

"These letters then go on to invite us to send in a reservation fee or to make an expensive phone call.

"The criminals benefiting from these frauds are based overseas, but they often try to make the letters look as if they have been sent from an address in the UK.

"People who send money in response to these mailings are then targeted by the criminals and asked for bigger and bigger sums of money. Just recently, a consumer told us about a letter they had received asking for over £600.

"Kent Trading Standards are pleading with people not to reply. If you are asked to pay to get a prize, the chances are it is a scam."

It is hoped the scam mailings will provide intelligence to Trading Standards Services to help future investigations and prevent others from being scammed.

The OFT have been successful in obtaining court injunctions against rogue traders operating by mail, including prize draw promoters in the UK and Europe.

If residents cannot get to a library, alternatively scam mailings can be sent via freepost to the trading standards office in Ashford or be handed to their community warden.

If you want more information or are concerned that you, or someone you care for, is being targeted call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06. Bogus mailings can be sent to Trading Standards Advice, Freepost, SEA13607 PO Box 71, Ashford, Kent, TN24 8WB. To find your community warden call 01622 696036

* Every year an estimated three million people fall victim to mass marketed scams such as bogus lotteries, deceptive prize draws, sweepstakes, fake psychics and miracle health cures.

* Many scams are sent through the post, email and phone targeting the elderly and vulnerable

* OFT research suggests that less than 5 per cent of victims report the scam to the authorities and these scams cost the UK an estimated £3.5billion a year.