SCAM companies who rip off Huddersfield people are being targeted in a new offensive by consumer watchdogs.
Trading Standards officers in the region plan new tactics to end the misery of mailshots.
Scores of people have contacted the Examiner to highlight bogus firms with PO box addresses in Huddersfield, promising prizes.
The scam usually takes the form of a letter explaining how the person is in with a chance to win a big cash prize.
Sometimes genuine-looking scratch cards are also included. People are then asked to ring a premium rate line costing £1.50 per minute.
But now West Yorkshire Trading Standards want to put a stop to the practice.
Carolyn Potter rang the line thinking she had scooped a prize from a company claiming to be based in Huddersfield. The letter sent to her Slaithwaite home said she was in line to win cash, a dream home or a holiday in the sun.
It turns out the firm uses a number of PO box addresses across the UK to trick people in to thinking they are a local firm.
She said: "I noticed the mailing address was in Huddersfield and thought it must be true.
"Usually I just bin these things. However when I rung the line I was forced to wait for more than five minutes. In the end I realised it was a scam and put the phone down."
Both the website and the customer service number printed on the letter are out of service.
Trading Standards are now planning to target the companies who actually own the addresses these companies use.
Spokesman David Lodge said he hopes pressuring companies to sign up to the MAIL (Mailing, Accommodation and Internet Locations) Fair Trade Scheme will help put rogue firms out of business.
"If we can encourage companies providing accommodation addresses to make sure they deal only with legitimate firms we can hopefully stop scams," he said.
"It will then be in the interest of the company to make sure anyone they deal with is not running illegally."
Clr Tony Brice, who sits on the Trading Standards Committee, warned people if they are told they have won a prize it is probably not true.
"The best thing to do is throw letters like this one straight in the bin," he said.
"The vast majority of these scratch cards are false. There are some - often like the ones you get in newspapers - which are legitimate. But not many.
"If you don't want to be ripped off just ignore them."
* All scratch cards that appear inside the Huddersfield Examiner are checked in line with guidelines set out by ICTIS (Independent Committee of Supervision of Standards on Telephone Information Services).
