AT this time of year there is always a surge of the number of scam e-mails.

They seemed to have started early this year — and already in the past few weeks I have received five letters of interest from people claiming to have a pot of money waiting to be collected for me.

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The best part of the e-mails is detail that goes into the content. The story normally revolves around how an individual — a prince or an ex-president — has several million pounds and needs to get rid of it as quickly as possible. Somehow they have found out I am a trusted individual who might be able to assist them.

How they know this without ever knowing me in the first place is beyond me.

The story goes that if I send them all my personal bank details then they will put ten per cent of 40 million pounds in my account.

Yes, ten per cent of 40 million. How lucky could one person be?

The thing is you would be surprised that people do fall for this nonsense — normally those who do not understand that it is a scam.

Even better — or worse, depending on how you look at it — are the next set of conmen who ring up your home and tell you that you have won some prize. The latest doing the rounds is a guy who calls in Urdu and pretends he is some distant cousin and wants your account details in order to deposit a lottery win.

I kept one of these fellows on the line for ten minutes before he realised that I was not worth the effort.

During that time we discussed the weather in Dubai, the cost of the taxis and the fact that Manchester United and Manchester City are separate teams.

Eventually, after I told him to send me the cash in an envelope, he hung up.

Now, I can joke — but these guys will target the elderly more than anyone else and that is not a laughing matter.

Another common scam of recent weeks is the 01196 723345 missed-call alert. Here, the caller or machine rings and wants you call them back. Apparently, when you do you will get charged an extortionate amount.

Now, Google answers all of the world’s questions and a simple search of the number will reveal that it is best to avoid calling it back. Or you could just not call anyone back, which is what I do.