Fearful her mother had been targeted by fraudsters, the 84-year-old's daughter, Dee Snelling, turned to Crusader.

Sarah has lived in the same house in Hayes, Middlesex, for the past 46 years but a few months ago she started receiving mail for a Sunday Oluwole, a person she had never heard of.

The bills were from Skycard, a credit service offered by satellite TV broadcaster Sky, and run by Barclaycard.

"This gentleman was a total stranger to us, my mum does not even have Sky and has never been in debt, so we got in touch with Barclaycard to explain, " Dee said.

"I was sent from pillar to post, told to fill in forms that didn't arrive. I've lost count of the calls I've made on mum's behalf but the letters keep coming." Dee was right to try to nip the problem in the bud and not just return all envelopes unopened.

According to the Postal Services Act 2000, it could be an offence to open mail addressed to somebody else. However with identity fraud rapidly increasing, a strong case can be made for action.

A trace showed that someone with a similar name to Oluwole had lived near Sarah, then moved. Crusader inquiries revealed that Barclaycard did respond to Dee's protests and stopped the demands. But by then the name was on one of Skycard's direct marketing lists.

"There was no fraud but an address error which was rectified when Mrs Snelling complained, " said a Barclaycard spokeswoman.

"The last mailings were just publicity material. However it is easy to see why Mrs Kingsley did not distinguish between the two.

"We failed to let her know the matter had been dealt with properly and have sent her a bouquet of flowers as an apology." "We are so relieved Crusader has sorted out this mess, " said Dee.

CITIZENS Advice says if you get more than one letter in an unknown name to your address, contact the sender directly. Keep a record of what you receive and mark any returned mail "Opened in error".

"It is worth checking the electoral roll at your local council office to see only your name is registered to your address, " adds Peter Tutton, CA's social policy adviser.