FRAUD experts have warned people to beware of sick scams taking advantage of public generosity after the Asian tsunami disaster.
The Trading Standards Institute (TSI) said it had reports across the country of fraudsters attempting to play on peoples' sympathies and trick them into handing cash or bank details over.
Ron Gainsford, chief executive of TSI said: "It is despicable that there are people prepared to profit from the suffering of others and take advantage of the charity of the public in this sick way."
Trading Standards staff have received reports of an email purporting to be from a man who lost both parents following Boxing Day's devastation.
The man, calling himself Marco Nula, asks the recipient for their details and asks if they will help him retrieve some money in a Dutch bank account for a percentage of it.
Officer Jill Korwin said: "It is cleverly designed to prey on both our compassion and our desire to help the victims of the tsunami."
She added that if anyone received the email they should delete it or alert Trading Standards.
The fraud alert follows reports from several aid agencies that criminals have already moved into the disaster zones, kidnapping orphaned children to sell for sex.
