THE 60-SECOND BRIEFING.(Business)

THE EXPERT VIEW

Scams can have a devastating impact on people's lives, with conmen often deliberately targeting older and vulnerable people ''

Celebrity consumer campaigner Esther Rantzen lends her support to the Office of Fair Trading's Scams Awareness Month

Tourist exchange rate: [pounds sterling]1 buys $1.56 or [euro]1.12

FTSE 100: 5,957 up 0.7 pc

Best High Street savings account: Halifax Guaranteed Saver Reward, 1.6 pc (2 pc)

Best internet account: Post Office Online Saver, 2.23 pc (2.9 pc), including bonus

Best annuity for a 65-year-old man, [pounds sterling]100,000 pot: [pounds sterling]541 a month, Canada Life

Best balance transfer deal on credit card: 17 months, Barclaycard Platinum with Balance Transfer Visa, 2.9 pc, min [pounds sterling]7.25 fee

Longest 0 pc purchase deal on credit card: 13 months, Tesco Bank Clubcard MasterCard

Best personal loan: Sainsbury's Finance, 8.4 pc, [pounds sterling]156.90 per month on [pounds sterling]5,000 loan over three years

Best five-year fixed rate mortgage: NatWest/RBS, 3.95 pc, 50 pc deposit with a [pounds sterling]699 fee

Top fund over five years: CF Canlife Far East, 139.1 pc

Top fund over three years: Axa Framlington Global Technology, 87.1 pc

Top fund over one year: Standard Life UK Smaller Companies, 50 pc

Dummy of the week: HM Revenue & Customs -- again -- after revelations that tax chiefs knew about tax code chaos two years before issuing shock demands to millions of workers