Essex trading standards have landed a major blow against software pirates who hoped to exploit the Christmas and New Year market, by seizing more than £300,000 worth of bootleg software.

Over the past three months Trading Standards' Operation Cybergeek has seen raids on software bootleggers across the county, including addresses in Billericay, Braintree, Chelmsford and Maldon.

The raids targeted industrial warehouses and homes throughout Essex producing illicit copies of computer games, music, videos and business packages on CDs.

Along with the major software haul, £30,000 worth of hardware used for illegal copying was also seized.

Karen Fulcher from Trading Standards said: "We are pleased with how the campaign has gone and want to continue this into the New Year.

"We have got quite a lot of intelligence from the raids which will help our future investigations."

The crackdown has involved Trading Standards working with the police and the British Software Alliance to combat the increasingly large-scale problem.

Head of fair trading in Essex, Steve Lynch, said: "Gone are the days of operations working from large premises. Many successful and profitable pirates work from a bedroom.

"Software piracy damages legitimate businesses and jobs. Operation Cybergeek has been a success and is part of an on-going crackdown on counterfeit crime."

Trading Standards also warned against trusting computer merchandise from suspect sources.

Karen Fulcher said: "Often the games have a problem with them and if anything does go wrong you have no consumer rights.

"We would recommend anyone buying computer software to purchase it from a legitimate retailer."

Counterfeit crackdown: Karen Fulcher celebrates Operation Cybergeek's success.

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