Councillors need to stay on top of what scams are circulating to help protect residents against fast-changing risks from criminals “looking for opportunities to try and scam people”.

A report by Anne-Louise Davies, Ceredigion County Council Trading Standards manager, highlighted the work the department does to combat scams and prosecute the criminals involved at a meeting of the healthier communities overview and scrutiny committee last week.

She said there had been 40 cases of scams and doorstep crime – where people knock on doors and sell below standard doors or push for unnecessary or overpriced work to be done – were reported in 2019, out of more than 550 calls received by the Trading Standards department.

There were also 48 scam victim referrals to the council from the National Trading Scams Team that identifies people being targeted by mass marketing post – even intercepting cheques sent to fraudulent addresses – so council officers can contact them and offer support.

Ms Davies added that during the pandemic incidents had increased and there had been 740 consumer reports between April 2020 and March 2021, 67 cases relating directly to unfair trading practice as a result of Covid-19.

The committee were reminded about the speed scammers change tactics and members were urged to ensure residents knew of any new scams occurring such as cold calls about Amazon Prime or internet connections during lockdown or Post Office text messages and any contacts asking for money for Covid-19 vaccines.

Cabinet member Cllr Gareth Lloyd said: “There are people out there that think they have the right to be fraudulent so the council has to work to ensure that we can protect the public against that.”

He added that there were the “traditional” scams but also changing technology and world events meant “there are people trying to take advantage of this and trick people out of their money with these new scams week by week”.

“One person who was scammed was a former police officer, so we are all targets,” said Cllr Lloyd, adding the team was small at Ceredigion but councillors must “ensure the message of what sort of scams are going on at the moment”.

Cllr Keith Evans, a member of the Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Panel, said “a lot of money has gone towards cyber crime and a lot of money is saved then through that work over the years,” and members were reminded of the “dangers out there”.

He added: “They’re like tides, they come in and out and there’s different scams that are developed.”

Prosecutions highlighted in the committee report include Danny McCelland trading as DVC Home Improvements, who pleaded guilty to fraud/unfair trading practices and Colin Harding, who pleaded guilty to fraud and product safety offences, both cases were head at Aberystwyth Magistrates Court in 2020.