A DISABLED 73-year-old man has lost £90 after being conned in a cruel postal scam.Robert Woods is urging other pensioners to throw away any letter promising to give you money.

A DISABLED 73-year-old man has lost £90 after being conned in a cruel postal scam.

Robert Woods is urging other pensioners to throw away any letter promising to give you money.

Mr Woods, from Downside Close in Ipswich, received a letter in April saying he had won a five-figure amount. However, to claim his "prize", he had to send a "registration fee" back to the company and they would send him the cash.

"I really thought I had won," said Mr Woods. "On the first letter I got it said I was guaranteed some money."

Accompanied with the original letter was a stamped addressed envelope where you send the so-called "registration fee" to.

Mr Woods sent a cheque for £16 in the return envelope and waited for his money.

Instead of receiving his "prize", he was then sent further letters, all saying he had won other competitions.

Believing he was about to get the cash, Mr Woods sent more money.

Originally he felt the letters were getting lost in the post and sent a further cheque by recorded delivery. When he contacted Royal Mail, they proved his letters were reaching their destination and he realised he had been conned out of £90. He could not contact the company he had sent the money to as they never included a telephone number.

He said: "I talked to my solicitor and he said not to pay anything more. It is a lot of money to pay out for nothing."

Mr Woods suffered a stroke ten years ago and now has to take 25 pills daily and frequently suffers breathing difficulties. He has refused to pay anything else, despite being sent more than 40 similar letters in two months.

"They must think I'm an easy target," said Mr Woods.

"It gets me really riled and I will take it to court if I get anything else like this.

"I want it to be stopped especially as they target old people who only have their pension coming in.

"If I receive any more similar letters I will throw them in the bin and that is what other people should do as well."

A spokeswoman for Royal Mail admitted there was not much they could do. She said: "The Royal Mail are under a legal obligation under the terms of its licence to deliver an item of mail that is correctly addressed and stamped.

"If a customer is concerned about the content of mail received we suggest they contact our customer service department who will be able to advise them further."

The Royal Mail customer services number is 08457 740 740.

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