Tauranga's elderly residents are being urged to be vigilant as a number of scam letters offering money circulate in the community.

The letters, claiming recipients are entitled to substantial amounts of money from overseas countries, have been arriving in residents' letterboxes lately.

Older Tauranga people are being warned about scam letters claiming they are entitled to a large sum of money

One elderly resident, who wished not to be named, says she received a letter in the mail last week claiming her husband has received US$651,000.

It was not until she read the fine print on the back of the letter she discovered it asked for bank account details for payment, along with other 'alarming” requirements.

'In the small print at the foot of the letter they say ‘for security reasons we ask that you keep this away from the public'.

'I just feel that people should be warned as there will be vulnerable people who will give all their details.”

Tauranga Age Concern board chairperson Angela Scott says this is a serious issue raised at the Age Concern conference in Wellington last week.

At the conference, Bank of New Zealand financial elder abuse prevention specialist Bronwyn Groot highlighted the dangers of scam letters and payments, claiming people are acting too quickly on the details.

Research shows New Zealanders lose more than $400million a year to scams. Elderly are particularly vulnerable to scams, fraud and theft.

'It was just horrific to see how some people have become addicted to them and keep giving money and writing out cheques,” says Angela.

Angela says it is 'extraordinary” how vulnerable older people are as they do not think about the dangers associated with handing out personal details to an unknown source.

'If it's too good to be true, it usually is. Some do seem to be obvious, things coming from Nigeria. But there's ones closer to home that people fall for like people knocking on the door.

'It's a shame but we have to be wary.”

If you have been scammed contact your bank immediately. Never give out personal information to strangers – over the phone, at our door, or on your computer.