An estimated five million people in the UK lose money to low-cost mass-marketed scams every year, at a cost of up to £1 billion per year to the victims warns the Office of Fair Trading.

At the start of a month-long scam awareness campaign, the OFT said when someone has fallen once for a scam, they are placed on a 'suckers' list by the fraudsters and targeted repeatedly with all kinds of bogus bargains.

Even those who think they are savvy can become victims. From lottery scams that capitalise on the need for money, clairvoyant scams which exploit people's fears, and miracle health or beauty cures, the fraudsters find all sorts of ways to prey on people.

John Fingleton, OFT Chief Executive, said: "Don't think that you can't be taken in by a scam. We may believe we are too savvy or streetwise to fall for these cons, but they target different people in different ways to exploit our weaknesses and take our money."

In order to educate people about how best to protect themselves against this growing problem, the OFT's campaign gives advice on how to spot a scam and where to go to for advice and help.

The OFT online quiz highlights the approaches and techniques used by different scams, and provides tips on how to avoid falling victim to the scammers. The campaign also flags up the current twelve top scams.

These include prize draw sweepstake mailings, foreign lottery scams, work from home/ business opportunity and how to become a successful model/ author/ inventor scams and the ever present African advance fee /foreign money making frauds, which people are still falling for.

The OFT said people can protect themselves with a few simple steps. One if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. The watchdog said people should not give out any personal information, especially financial details and take their time and not feel pressurised into signing anything or sending off any money.

If someone still thinks the offer sounds genuine, even though they haven't applied for it, they should talk to neighbours, friends and relatives and check out whether this 'special offer' has been sent to others.

As an additional precaution consumers are also advised to call Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 for advice.

Further advice and full details of scams are available here.