CONMEN have tricked North-East people out of tens of thousands of pounds with offers of investment in companies that turn out to be non-existent.

Victims in County Durham have lost their savings after falling for the fraudsters' false promises of making a profit in groundbreaking enterprises.

Now a senior detective is urging people to keep hold of their money and ignore propositions that sound "too good to be true".

Detective Inspector Colin Gibson, head of Durham Police's economic crime unit, says "boiler room'' frauds are on the increase and have prompted a spate of complaints from County Durham people who have lost up to £70,000. He said the victims - individuals and companies - were "cold-called" and offered the chance to invest in a venture guaranteed to give investors big returns. They were also referred to bogus websites that appear to give the offer credibility.

"The victims are paying many thousands of pounds for companies that don't exist or are worthless companies that are really just forged documents," he said.

"Quite often the fraud is only discovered when the victim comes to sell the shares or checks to see how the company is doing.

"By that time the victims are unable to get in touch with the criminals. Email addresses are shut down and any premises, if they are in the UK, have been closed.

"Some of the victims are intelligent, articulate people with business nous.''

Det Insp Gibson said people should be suspicious of any approach in the first place.

"If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is. People should have a healthy cynicism.''

People can check whether a company is fraudulent on the Financial Services Agency website - www.fsa.gov.uk

Advice is available from the police website www.dur ham.police.uk or the North-East Fraud Forum www.northeastfraudforum. co.uk or from the economic crime unit on 0845-60-60-365.