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Watchdog Trading Standards has launched a criminal investigation into allegations of people using the Green Deal as a cover to try and defraud householders.

Caerphilly Trading Standards said it had received 17 complaints of people knocking on doors claiming that homeowners were entitled to around 拢10,000 of funding for home improvements and that the improvements would be free.

The householders were then asked them for an 鈥渁dministration fee鈥� to undertake various tasks on behalf of the householder.

Green Deal firms have to go through a registration and accreditation process before they can use the Green Deal Accreditation logo and offer to do Green Deal work.

But Tim Keohane, senior trading standards officer in Caerphilly, said none of the people under investigation were registered under the scheme.

The punishment for the alleged offences under the Fraud Act 2006 and the Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, ranges from fines to ten years in prison.

Keohane said: 鈥淲hen the Green Deal was announced by the government the first thing we thought is that there would be some unscrupulous people who would take advantage of this.鈥�

He said fraudsters would 鈥渓atch onto anything鈥� as a 鈥渧ehicle to part people from their money鈥� and that the complaints had come from across a wide geographical area.

Liz Male, chair of quality monitor TrustMark, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 really important that the Green Deal Oversight Body, and Trading Standards clamp down on this sort of activity very quickly because at the single thinking that could damage the Green Deal most at this stage is if a big national story breaks that there鈥檚 a fraud going on.鈥�

She added that consumers needed to be 鈥渨ary鈥� of people offering 鈥渟pecial deals or telling them that their property is unsafe and needs urgent work鈥�.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, said the government needed to more to promote the Green Deal to ensure consumers had knowledge of the standards to protect them from fraud.

He added: 鈥淭his [type of scam] undermines the reputation of the building industry. Image is very important and it [fraud] gives the public less confidence in using builders in the future.鈥�