1 My biggest victories

This week sees my last Capital Letters column. After nearly a decade of helping Guardian readers get justice – and warning them about frauds, scams and dodgy deals – it's time to close my mailbox. Over the years I've read some 40,000 letters and emails, and published more than 2,000.

In America today the average price of gasoline has skyrocketed past $4.00 per gallon with no end in sight. Oil prices have doubled since the end of 2007 with $200 per barrel conceivable within months. Still, no one seems to have a solution. The government is inept, and only seems willing to add to the problem rather than solve it.

Internet fraudsters are raking in thousands of dollars a day with an elaborate scam selling magnetic perpetual motion machines that are claimed to produce infinite free energy.Since spring this year an operation called Magniwork has been selling a $50 DIY guide to building a perpetual motion device at home.