We have had further reports of men going door to door offering property repairs to driveways and paths.

In one report, four men called at an elderly resident's property in Potters Green claiming they were there to do some work in the garden. They refused to give an estimate saying they had to talk to the boss and would return, which they did with another two men and carried out some work.

They asked for £2,000 but would accept £500 if payment was by cash.

After completing the work the men said they would return in a few weeks to check the work.

On inspecting the work we found very little had been done and what had been done was of a very poor quality.

One elderly Cheylesmore resident had a trader call on 3 separate occasions in as many days trying to persuade them to have their driveway cleaned.

Our advice, never deal with cold callers.

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Colleagues in Dudley have successfully prosecuted two rogue traders who charged elderly and vulnerable people extortionate prices for a "sham" roof coating service.

The two men were both jailed for five years each after the Court found that the companies they were running made grossly exaggerated claims for a product they knew “had little to commend it” and their sales staff had preyed on customers' fears.

Trading as Therma Seal UK Ltd in Tamworth before it was closed down owing a massive debt to the Revenue the two men then started Therma Seal (Thermal Coatings) Ltd to continue the same fraud.

Dudley Trading Standards said there were more than 2,700 victims nationwide and between 2010 and 2012 the two companies had a turnover of £8.5million and were engaged in professionally planned confidence fraud in which members of the public were conned into believing the paint would cut heat loss through the roof by up to 25 per cent but in actual fact it did little to reduce heat loss.

A 91-year-old woman was charged £13,000 to have her roof coated with the product which it was claimed was used by NASA to protect space shuttles from extreme temperatures.

The actual cost of the work should have been no more than £1,050 while the cost of a new roof would have been just over £9,000.

A retired woman was charged £1,875 for work an expert said should have cost £788 whilst another elderly couple were told the roof coating would cost them £4,465 that should have been £872.

The average age of the victims was 74.

In May 2013 we issued a local warning following reports of a Roof Cleaning firm who were making a number of unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of having roofs jet washed, sealed and painted. In one case the initial price of over £3500 was reduced to £1500 if the resident agreed to the work starting straight away.

The use of high-pressure jet washing to clean the roof can damage tiles whilst water can be forced into the roof space. Serious damage can also be caused if the trader walks on the roof without laying boards over the tiles first or use scaffolding.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), the organisation responsible for the Green Deal energy efficiency scheme have admitted that more than 350 of the companies registered to carry out assessments or installation work for the scheme have been stripped of their certification after breaking its code of practice, which is designed to ensure they are properly qualified and deal with complaints correctly.

Other Trading Standards have also seen an increase in the number of reports about Green Deal scams where businesses call offering to carry out a free survey, on the promise of saving people money on energy bills but are then asked to pay £300 for a survey. In some cases, no survey is carried out.

The scam is causing confusion as the genuine Green Deal can charge and the costs can vary but the genuine ones have to be approved Green Deal assessors.

With the latest £70 million tranche of funding from the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund issued on 16 March there may be a rise in the number of scams associated with the scheme so it is important to check out anyone claiming to be a Green Deal Operator.

If you are unsure whether you qualify for free energy saving improvements, contact the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234.

The Residential Landlords Association [RLA] has brought to our attention the fraudulent activities of someone operating under the name of DepositGuard.

Tenants searching for rental properties online have been contacted by a fraudulent website posing as DepositGuard under the web address of www.depositguard-rla.co.uk asking to wire payment to an account to secure the property.

The RLA advise that this is a scam and they are doing everything they can to prevent further instances. 

The only legitimate DepositGuard websites are through the RLA website itself at www.rla.org.uk/depositguard and through partnered landlord accreditation sites: www.depositguard.co.uk, www.leedslas.co.uk/depositguard and www.rlaas.co.uk/depositguard. 

If you know someone or you have been personally affected by this online scam, please report this to Action Fraud: www.actionfraud.police.uk.