The Office of Fair Trading will once again ask the public to fight back against scammers in the month of February. However, it has reduced 'Scam Awareness Month' to a fortnight.

In 2008, the Office of Fair Trading organised its first Scams Awareness Month. The campaign aims to highlight the fact that some 3 million Britons fall victim to a scam each year. Scams cost the UK economy an estimated £3.5 billion a year.

This year's Scams Awareness Month will run for two weeks only, from 2 to 15 February. During this period people can deposit scam mail in 'Scamnesty' bins in libraries and other public buildings across the country. The scam mailings will be collected by 'Scambusters' teams and used to "support the Office of Fair Trading’s investigations into the scale of the problem in the UK."

People who have fallen victim to a scam are advised to contact Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06.