Financial investigators with Portsmouth City Council have recovered £70,000 compensation owed to 18 victims of a rogue trader.
The council, in partnership with the Crown Prosecution Service, presented the results of a 12-week investigation of Paul Gaffney's assets in a Crown Court hearing last week.
He was ordered to pay £70,000 compensation to his victims within six months.
Gaffney was sentenced to nine years imprisonment for fraud in July after a year-long investigation led by the council and Hampshire police.
Many of his victims were elderly and vulnerable residents. Gaffney cold-called them on their doorsteps and duped them into agreeing to building work that was either unnecessary or, in most cases, not undertaken.
He bullied some elderly customers into accompanying him to their banks to withdraw money, the court heard.
Portsmouth City Council cabinet member for environment and community safet,y Cllr Robert, New said: 'These are excellent results. I am so pleased that the council's trading standards service has been able to confiscate a substantial amount of the money for the victims, saving them stress of individual court actions.
'This joint action with the Crown Prosecution Service demonstrates how effectively we can use the Proceeds of Crimes Act (POCA) to conduct a financial investigation and compensate victims of crimes for what has been taken from them.'