A HAMPSHIRE pensioner has been duped out of £4m by fraudsters, it has been revealed.

The OAP may now be forced to sell his home.

The elderly man from Hamble is believed to have lost his life savings by being groomed by conmen to regularly spend money on fake shares and investments.

Efforts to recoup his money have proved unsuccessful and although he has received help to ensure he stops sending off any more cash in the future, he may still face losing his home.

But he is just one of many vulnerable pensioners who have been targeted by scams and fraudsters across Hampshire in the last eight months.

Trading Standards officers have discovered that almost £5m has been handed over by those who have been duped into handing over huge sums of money and in some cases, their life savings.

These latest figures has sparked Trading Standards to launch a day of action today in a bid to crackdown on the fraudsters who are using more and more convincing techniques to target their victims and to protect those most at risk.

The most common types of scams involve prize draws and lotteries, scam land sales, timeshare holiday clubs and boiler room frauds which use high-pressure sales tactics to persuade victims to buy shares which may not exist or turn out to be worthless.

In response to the soaring number of people being targeted, Trading Standards set up a Financial Abuse Safeguarding Unit in 2009, which has recouped £436,536 on behalf of victims who would often find it impossible to give evidence in court due to their specific impairments such as dementia and mental health problems.

Councillor Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council, said: “Many vulnerable consumers can be socially isolated and worry about the situation they find themselves in and this distress can have a very negative effect on their social wellbeing.

“The Financial Abuse Safeguarding Unit is a vital resource which has already received national recognition for the role that it plays in minimising the stress that is experienced by these very vulnerable people.

“It is however, just one area of work that is underway in Hampshire to tackle this growing problem but by working together during a day of action, we hope to explore more ways in which collectively, we can protect these victims in the future.”