A new weapon in the war against bogus callers has been set up in Colchester.

A number of groups have joined forces to form Colchester Community Alert - a new forum dedicated to defeating scam artists in the Colchester area.

The new forum includes the police, Trading Standards, Colchester Neighbourhood Watch and Colchester Council, Age Concern, Help the Aged district nurses and Colchester Primary Care Trust.

If a concerned resident contacts one organisation, all the information will be cascaded to everyone else.

Peter Carrington, community safety officer at Colchester Council, said: "We will be the first port of call about scams.

"What it will mean is if a scam or bogus caller is reported to one of the groups, the information will come up as an alert to all the others. "

The forum has been launched in Colchester and Mr Carrington said he hoped it would be spread out to other areas of Essex if it proved successful.

Published Friday, January 3, 2003

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