FIRMS across the south will continue to fall victim to fraudsters unless the government steps in and acts, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) warned today.

The call comes as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) launches a scam awareness campaign designed to alert the public to deceptive and fraudulent mass-marketed scams.

The OFT has the power to serve Stop Now Orders on con artists who swindle consumers.

However, a clause in the 2002 Enterprise Act excludes businesses and the self-employed from the protection provided by the orders.

The FSB, which has 5,700 members in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, argues that small business owners are as vulnerable to scams as any other individual, but they often lack specialist knowledge and rarely have time to closely study all their correspondence.

Over the past year the FSB has alerted its members to a number of scams targeted at small firms.

They included the European City Guide, when small businesses were stung by a mail-out giving the impression that inclusion in the city guide was free. Buried in the small print it said firms which signed and returned the forms were committed to paying about £1,000 for the entries and a copy of the guide.

There was also a health and safety scam, when firms claiming to regulate health and safety legislation sent out official-looking letters to firms, demanding registration payments of up to £249.

Using titles such as the Health and Safety Enforcement Agency, they threatened unsuspecting businesses with fines and imprisonment for non-payment.

The FSB is calling for the OFT's definition of consumers to be extended to include small businesses and the self-employed.

FSB trade and industry chairman Tina Sommer said: "More and more scams are targeted at small businesses, but the OFT is unable to use Stop Now Orders to protect them from rogue traders.

"We are calling on the government to extend its definition of consumer to include small firms and for the OFT to use all the powers at its disposal to protect small businesses."