Residents have been urged to be on their guard against doorstep scammers.
Caerphilly County Borough Council’s Trading Standards have revealed details of some of the scams they know about.
Scammers have been known to try and sell cheap electricity for pre-paid meters door-to-door.
They then use cloned keys to illegally top up the electricity meter. However, this costs the victim more money as they must pay out a second time to the electricity company for the energy used. Electricity is never legitimately sold door-to-door.
In another scam, residents are sold ‘energy saving devices’ costing around £99. In fact the gadgets do nothing and tests on previous devices have found them to be unsafe and a fire hazard.
Cllr Nigel George, Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure Services, said: “Scams and other types of criminal activity will not be tolerated within Caerphilly County Borough. It is vitally important that we do our best to protect ourselves, as well as friends and family from being targeting by these callous criminals.”
To report suspicious sales activity in your area, contact Trading Standards on 01495 235291.