I OFTEN get calls from from someone posing as a Microsoft engineer saying I have a virus on my computer which they can fix for 'x' amount of money, and sometimes they get annoyed when you say 'you're a scam'.

I can only assume that these people who run scams have absolutely no moral fibre.

Then there are the heartless thieves who target the elderly and infirm – it shatters your faith in human beings that people can do such things.

I read in the Echo that the wonderful City Mission lost £30,000 to fraudsters from their funds that they need to help the less fortunate in the city. I believe that in the end bad people will get their just desserts and the people who stole the money will get very little benefit from it.

I hope Chris Davis and his City Mission team can overcome this setback and continue their essential work, especially at Christmas, and as Charles Dickens said in A Christmas Carol, "want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices".

It would be nice if people reading of this fraud on the City Mission can look in their hearts and donate to help them recover their losses. You never know when a change of fortune can enter your life. Then you may need help from organisations like the City Mission which is there as a lifeline and can be the difference between life and death for some people.

Paddy Maxwell

Southampton

Editor's note: those wishing to donate can do so via City Mission's website www.southamptoncitymission.co.uk