A pensioner who was scammed out of money by fraudsters says he wants to warn others to beware.

Colin Deacon, 76, was bombarded by hundreds of letters telling him he had won cash or gifts.

Once he responded to one to two, the floodgates opened as scammers circulated his address.

“I feel silly and gullible,” said Mr Deacon, who lives at Appledore. “At one stage it made me feel ill.

“Now I am far more careful and destroy any letters I get. My advice to others is, bin them.”

Mr Deacon, who lives alone, lost around £2,000.

With the help of Kent County Council community warden Jo Vos and the co-operation of his bank, Nationwide, he has got most of the money back.

“I feel silly and gullible,” said Mr Deacon, who lives at Appledore.

"At one stage it made me feel ill. Now I am far more careful and destroy any letters I get" - Colin Deacon

Miss Vos said: “Colin should not feel guilty. These fraudsters are professionals and their paperwork looks so genuine.

“People should remember that they can’t win something if they haven’t entered a competition and if it looks too good to be true, it is probably a fraud.”

Mr Deacon, a retired motor fitter, said his problems began when he moved to a new home in Appledore about a year ago.

He was dealing with one company which told him he had won £9,500, and believes his address was then passed to other scammers.

“I had letters from China and the Netherlands,” he said. “Over two months, I had about 100 letters, most of them marked ‘urgent’ on the envelope.

“Some were from charities but all were asking asking for money. I was getting phone calls as well.”

Money was being taken out of Mr Deacon’s bank account at the rate of more than £100 a month.

“I realised I was getting into a mess and was afraid I would have no money for food,” he said.

Miss Vos became involved four months ago after she was given a list of scam victims in her area by Trading Standards and Action Fraud UK.

The names had been found after a PO box was intercepted by police.

She went through Mr Deacon’s bank statements with him, identified fraudulent transactions and went to Nationwide bank with him. Through the bank’s fraud investigators, he got most of his money back.

Mr Deacon has also subscribed to the telephone preference service which has cut his nuisance phone calls.

He added: “Now I keep a close eye on my bank account and if I see something that does not look right, I stop it.”