HUNDREDS of Swindon residents are being routinely targeted by fraudsters and added to ‘suckers lists’ as Trading Standards admits it has underestimated the scale of the problem.

People who become susceptible to scams are routinely added to lists by scammers, which compounds the problem as their details are shared among criminals.

Trading Standards has been battling the problem over the last year and said 600 people in Swindon are on the lists.

Two of those have already paid out £100,000 each, having to remortgage their houses in the process.

Trading Standards is now actively responding to so-called Jessica’s Scam Syndrome, in which the victims’ trust is being bought by criminals.

Carla Baker, of Swindon Council Trading Standards, said: “We did not understand previously that there is a type of mental illness going on here and there are many people out there that have a real problem with what is now known as Jessica’s Syndrome.

“A ‘suckers list’ is a horrible phrase but it is one used by scammers themselves.

“We have seen it appear when these lists have been recovered by police when they have raided houses where they have been running scams. In the last year we have found that there are 600 Swindon people who are on these ‘suckers lists’.

“We have been contacting these people to see if we can help them, and we did not expect to find a problem on the scale that we have seen.

“We have come across people with some very serious problems. Two people in Swindon have spent over £100,000 each on these scams, and both have remortgaged their house to fund that and risked repossession.”

People with mental health problems are being actively targeted by cold callers, despite changes to legislation around the practice.

“We know rogue traders are a problem and are working with neighbourhood policing teams to try to tackle that,” Carla said.

“For the last year we have tried to beat door knockers at their own game, and there is a list of roads we know are being hit by rogue traders.

“We have even seen people suffering from Alzheimer’s being targeted by the same rogue traders coming back week after week.

“It is then impossible for us to know with any certainty how much money is being handed over, because it is usually in cash, and the victims have no memory of the previous incidents.

“When they get involved in ‘suckers lists’ it almost becomes as though they are talking to a friend, and they end up becoming isolated from family and friends.

“If you know a friend, neighbour or family member who seems to be getting a lot of unsolicited letters or calls, or if someone you know seems to be showing signs of this sort of behaviour, there are things that we can do to help.”

Email tstandards@swindon.gov.uk or call 01793 466155.