But thanks to some new initiatives by police, a number of attempted frauds in the area have been thwarted before people’s savings have been raided.PC Dave Phillips and his local team are committed to a ‘pro-active rather than reactive’ approach to what was called an ‘ever-evolving crime’.“They certainly have no conscience about who they’re going to scam and take the money from,” PC Phillips said. “To them there’s no conscience. It’s just being on your guard and being aware.”Fraudulent crime is a huge nationwide problem, and here in Sussex at least 386 victims alone lost their savings in the first three months of the year.It has left PC Phillips with a mission to advise and prevent people from falling prey to these crimes.He said: “They’re looking for the 
easy-target victims, they want people that are more susceptible.“It’s an ever-evolving crime, a new criminal activity. For us, if people make us aware of it, we are abreast of the new crimes out there,” said PC Phillips.“If people inform us, we have more chance of knowing what they will do. We can be proactive rather than reactive.”Different tactics are used all over the county, PC Phillips warned. From courier fraud to scam mail, criminals will use any tactic to trap 
their victims.Here in West Sussex there has been a particular problem with fraudsters phoning up victims pretending to be policemen themselves.The criminal convinces their 
victim that their bank details are compromised and say they need access 
to their pin and card.A courier is then sent to collect the card, with victims totally unaware they are aiding criminals.Sussex Police has been aware of this particular scam for some time and prevention measures appear to be working, with five potential victims last week contacting the force when they realised they were being scammed.PC Phillips said: “Although we’ve not caught the people, it shows that our crime prevention is working and what we’ve done is working.“What we know is that there’s five fewer victims.“This goes back to drying up the demand for the crimes. If we can dry up the demand, we put them out of business. It’s another way of stopping them.”The majority of victims are aged between 80 and 90 and PC Phillips added: “The bit that really does it for me is that people work so hard to get their lifelong savings and within the stretch of a phone call, that will all go.”Police officers have visited every bank branch in the local area to train staff to look out for customers being scammed, and have vowed to continue the fight against fraud by any means.