A TEENAGE magician is to return to the streets this Christmas in a bid to help the council crackdown on illegal street gambling.

Emmanuele Faja, of Pembroke Road, Walthamstow, who was enlisted last Christmas, will help warn members of the public about fraud and theft from gambling contests.

In the run up to Christmas, demonstrations will be carried out to show how difficult it is to win money from a street gambler.

Emmanuele will demonstrate common scams, such as 'chase the lady' as part of the council’s crime prevention week event.

He will be in Walthamstow town square between 9.30am and 1.30pm tomorrow.

Cabinet member for community safety, enforcement and protection, Cllr Afzal Akram, said: “Scammers often use distractions or sleight of hand to trick innocent people out of their hard earned cash.

“Shoppers should be under no illusions – they simply cannot win these games. That is why we’re using a magician to demonstrate that stark reality.”

A total of five organised street gambling gangs have been caught in Walthamstow and in September, street gambler Lucian Nicolae, 35, of Finsbury Park, was banned from the borough.

The problem has eased after warning signs were put up in shop windows in languages including Urdu, French and Romanian to make sure shoppers are aware of the risk, the authority has said.

High visibility police patrols have also been carried out in Walthamstow town centre, while Leyton Mills now has a dedicated safer neighbourhoods team, dealing with both street gamblers and illegal DVD sellers.

The council has also given a questionnaire to shoppers, asking them if they were aware of street gamblers, where they can usually be found and what the risks of participating were.