CONSUMER watchdogs are advising people who endure nuisance phone calls and e-mail scams that help is on the way.

Darlington's trading standards team said systems such as a Telephone Preference Service (TPS) and "silent call guard service" are available.

Officials said one of the main phone nuisance problems was prize draw marketing scams, which encourage people to ring a premium rate number in the belief that they have won a prize.

It is a legal requirement that companies do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS.

In a report to councillors, trading standards chiefs also said there was a growing problem with marketing firms using computers to dial random numbers.

Once connected, the computer searches for an operator but, if the operator is busy, the machine hangs up.

Anyone wanting to avoid such silent calls can register their number with the silent call guard service.

The borough council's development director, John Buxton, said: "Where bogus e-mails or West African fraud scams are received, the advice from trading standards would be not to respond and forward the details to trading standards."

Darlington's trading standards department can be contacted on (01325) 388582.