WILTSHIRE Police has produced a leaflet for the public detailing the scams used by fraudsters to trick people out of their money.

Some of the scams are not new but continue to be used, including letters stating that you have won a lottery abroad and cold calls asking whether you require an unsecured loan.

Other scams covered in the leaflet that are not so well known include the ‘fraud recovery fraud’. This involves a second cold call stating that the product or service that you bought as a result of the first cold call does not exist or is fake.

The person calling then states that they have been employed by the government of that country to investigate but require a fee in order to return your money to you.

DS Sam Hopkinson of the complex fraud team said: “Fraud is an extremely distressing crime and one of the few crimes where victims are often too embarrassed to report it to police. “This is usually because they feel that it is somehow their fault for being taken in; but fraudsters are very persuasive and often target the most vulnerable people in our communities.

“This leaflet is designed to inform people about the most current scams and provide advice on what they should do if they are unfortunate enough to become a victim of fraud.

“The most important piece of advice I can give to the public is to remember that if it sounds too good to be true it usually is.”

The ‘Are you a victim of fraud?’ leaflets are available from inquiry offices and from Neighbourhood Policing Teams (NPTs). To report an incident of fraud, contact Action Fraud by visiting actionfraud.police.uk or calling 0300 1232040.

Crimes in action should be reported to police on 999.