Tracy Evans' aunt lost more than �21,000

Tracy Evans found her aunt Lillian Lazonby, who died recently, owed a further �15,000 when she died.

Ms Evans found 10,000 letters from various companies at her aunt's Birmingham home after her death.

She found her life savings had gone on paying processing fees for prize draws and lotteries but she never received any of the money promised by the firms.

My aunt lost �21,000 of her life's saving, I just want to warn people. Tracy Evans

"I felt really sad, frustrated and really, really angry," she said.

"I don't want people to go through what we're going through, it has completely changed our lives."

With the letters still arriving, Ms Evans has turned to Consumer Direct for help.

Clive Kenyon, a manager at Consumer Direct, said: "It's very sad indeed. Unfortunately these scams do tend to target the elderly and vulnerable."

'Hard slog'

Mike Hayley is head of the Office of Fair Trading's Scambusters team, which works with organisations like Trading Standards to crack down on these kind of schemes.

He said it was a "tragic" case.

"But unfortunately it neither surprises nor shocks me because every week we hear of stories like these," he said.

"We do need people to look out for elderly relatives and identify signs because once you respond to one, more scammers will be after you.

"We are championing the cause of consumers and we do have powers, but it's a long and hard slog."