THE son of a Williton pensioner duped out of thousands of pounds is warning people to be wary of scams.

Michael Haynes, of Porlock, has been monitoring his 87-year-old father's post since he lost £6,500 in just 18 months.

Victor Haynes subscribed to Canadian lotteries and other competitions, and for all the money he sent off, he only ever received a cheque for 67pence.

Michael Haynes told the County Gazette his father had received numerous scam letters in different formats.

Some suggested he had won money but asked him to send cash so his numbers could be checked.

Michael said: "This is a bad thing to get into. The best thing to do for anybody is to check anything with a foreign stamp on it and, unless you know who it's from, I would just throw it in the recycling."

Michael said his father had once given out his direct debit details out and payment had been taken from him eight times.

He said: "One thing that really got to me was that although I tried to get the message across to him, he kept thinking he would win something."