THERE have been yet more warnings this week about conmen who are targeting vulnerable elderly people.

The trouble is that all these warnings don't seem to be making any difference at all.

This is a crime that is so easy to fall victim to.

Most of us think we could never lose our savings to an unscrupulous con artist, but it happens, and the people it happens to are not stupid.

They open their doors to someone who looks the part and sounds the part and, before they even have time to think, they are agreeing to something they don't really want.

Now trading standards are joining forces with local councils and other groups to try to get the message across that these people should not be blindly trusted.

The problem is, most of us already know this if we have a chance to think about it, but these people specialise in not giving their victims a chance to gather their thoughts.

The poor person listening to this patter on the doorstep is probably too polite to just tell them to go away and too worried not to listen to what they are saying.

It won't be easy trying to change these automatic and natural reactions.