Elderly and vulnerable 'at risk' with more people returning to offices, chiefs warn

Bosses said criminals had adapted during the pandemic and could strike with fewer people around to keep their eye on vulnerable neighbours.

The annual report – the NTS Consumer Harm Report – found complaints about doorstep criminals fell nationally overall in the year 2020-2021.

But they warned there has been a rise of 76 per cent in mass-marketing scams on the previous year, with a rise also taking place in Staffordshire.

Chiefs in the county said they had seen the same drop in reports of doorstep crime and the same rise in mass-market scams including Covid-19 related ones.

Councillor Victoria Wilson, cabinet member for communities at Staffordshire County Council said: "It’s been a particularly challenging 18 months for our Trading Standards service especially when we factor in the pandemic which gave criminals another vehicle to target us with a whole range of new scams.

"Both nationally and in Staffordshire we have seen a huge spike in the number of email, text, phone and mail scams and it’s very worrying to think that one in three people may have been affected by them. The reduction in doorstep crime was welcome but not really a surprise as many people were at home and unable to travel. But unfortunately criminals don’t sit around and are quick to adapt their tactics to online or text scams instead.

"I do appreciate that many scams can appear genuine but please read any communications carefully and don’t respond right away without thinking or speaking to someone. If you’re in any doubt at all, ignore the offer, delete the email or hang up the phone if it’s a telephone call. As always, people should be wary about any unsolicited approaches."