大象传媒

Police and trading standards are hitting back at crooks who sent huge quantities of junk mail to vulnerable people 鈥� often pensioners.

88-year-old Fred Fowler, from Blaenau, near Abertillery receives up to 20 pieces of junk post every day.聽 They come from all over the world 鈥� the USA, Australia, Samoa, Vanuatu.聽

The former engineer started responding to the letters after he was widowed two years ago. He鈥檚 ended up sending聽 拢10,000 to companies who鈥檝e promised him big cash prizes.

The conmen got Fred鈥檚 details from a Suckers List 鈥� a database of those likely to respond to scams.聽 You can end up on such a list if you reply to some types of junk mail.聽

But Trading Standards are now fighting back against the scammers. They seized suckers lists, with more than 6,000 Welsh names from a PO Box in England.聽 Officers across Wales are now visiting those on the list to offer them help and advice.

One person who鈥檚 received such a visit is Helena Freeman from Ely, in Cardiff.聽 For years her late husband, Ron, bought expensive catalogue goods, tempted by the 鈥榣uxury鈥� free gifts on offer.聽 But when the gifts arrived they were never as fancy as Ron had been led to believe.

Helena鈥檚 now helping tackle the scammers by becoming a 鈥渕ail marshal鈥�.聽 She collects the junk post she receives and passes it to Trading Standards, who can they take action against the people sending the mail.

If you're concerned about the amount of scam mail you, or someone you know,聽receives then you can contact the

Telephone: 03454 04 05 06
Welsh language: 03454 04 05 05

Or, if you have been scammed and wish to report it you should contact on 0300 123 2040聽

He referees high street disputes - but did you know that the ombudsman isn鈥檛 a British invention?

No. It was the mild mannered Swedes who had the first ombudsman in the 1800鈥檚 鈥� and it鈥檚 where we get that rather odd sounding word from.

In fact, 鈥渙m-buds-man鈥� means representative of the people, and like all good inventions the idea spread around the world. Britain didn't get one until 1967 - now there are loads of them.

But there's a few we really need to know about, starting with the daddy of them all - the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).

The FOS was set up by Parliament and has the power to deal with all sorts of complaints, from mis-sold payment protection insurance to mortgage and credit card disputes.

There are others too, some of whom are funded by the companies they handle complaints about.

大象传媒 Radio 4 Money Box presenter, Paul Lewis, told X-Ray: 鈥淚t's true that some ombudsmen are funded by the companies that they deal with, but to be an ombudsman - to use that name -聽 you have to fulfil certain criteria, one of which is complete impartiality, the other is that all members are bound by your decisions.鈥�

All ombudsmen have specific remits. For example, there's one who can help if something goes wrong with a Green Deal plan; there's another who deals with shoddy furniture; and there's even a football ombudsman who handles complaints about match tickets and merchandise.

So the next time you're short-changed, there may just be an ombudsman to deal with your problem.