A BUILDER tried to trick a 90-year-old pensioner out of her life savings by charging £6,340 for a £5 job.

The partially blind and deaf pensioner, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, gave the conman a blank cheque to pay for work to replace a single roof time, a job that only took a couple of minutes.

But instead of filling the cheque in for £5, he filled it in to the amount of £6,340.

Luckily, bank staff became suspicious and stopped the cheque. They then contacted the police.

Community Police Inspector Paul Anderson said: "It was a despicable thing to do - to target elderly people in this manner and trick them out of what could be their life savings."

He added: "We have to praise the bank staff for being so vigilant.

"They spotted the discrepancy between the signature on the cheque and the handwriting for the amount.

"It alerted their suspicions and they contacted the woman, who told them it was only supposed to be for £5.

"The cheque was stopped so no money was paid out. We are now liaising with the bank to trace this individual.

"We are confident an arrest will be made."

It is the latest in a string of frauds that have been carried out on elderly and vulnerable home owners.

Latest Home Office figures show that people in County Durham and Cleveland are more likely to be the victim of doorstep conmen than those living elsewhere in the country.

And they are up to five times more likely to be burgled by someone gaining entry by deception than people in North Yorkshire.

There were ten distraction burglaries per 10,000 homes in Cleveland in the 12 months to March, and nine per 10,000 households in County Durham.

The average across England and Wales was seven.

Doorstep distraction burglaries accounted for 7.7 per cent of total burglaries in Durham - the highest proportion in the country. The average was four per cent.

There have been a series of high profile frauds in the past year.

In September, an 84-year-old in Stockton was swindled out of almost £18,000 to replace six fence panels and paint some bricks.

The bogus builders systematically robbed the woman, who suffers from dementia, over a six-week period.

Neighbours eventually raised the alarm, but not before the victim's bank account had been emptied of £17,750.

Insp Anderson advised anyone planning to get work done on their house to agree a set fee beforehand.

He said: "People should be very suspicious of cold callers. Always ask for identification. If there are any doubts call the police.

"Our advice would be to anyone requiring any work to ring the contractors directly to come to the house."

He added: "And, of course, never hand over a blank cheque."

The Northern Echo launched its Doorstoppers Campaign in 2003 seeking legislation to end door-to-door cold-calling.

It is pressing for legislation to make it a criminal offence for cowboy builders and other rogue callers to turn up at a house unannounced.

The Doorstoppers campaign already has the support of police, trading standards officials across the North-East and the Federation of Master Builders.