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Local authority trading standards professionals teamed up with police in 14 areas of the country for a day-long operation to clamp down on doorstep criminals and bogus traders.
They swooped on residential areas, looking for tell-tale signs of rogue trader and distraction burglar activity - and identified a total of 433 crimes, of which 102 were trading standards offences.
In some areas, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Immigration Service, the Vehicle Operator Services Agency and Environment officers also took part, detecting a further 140 offences.
A total of 51 people were arrested - 15 of them for trading standards offences, three by Immigration officers and the rest by police. A further 1,600 people were spoken to and given advice or warnings about their trading activities.
Ron Gainsford, chief executive of the Trading Standards Institute (TSI) said: 'This was a very successful operation, which should send a strong message to rogue traders that they cannot keep conning the public. Local authority trading standards departments, as well as the police and other agencies, across the country are on to them!
'Doorstep criminals are a major problem facing the safety of our communities. The only effective way to tackle and help combat this issue is by all agencies working together and using all the tools available to them to clamp down on the rogue traders.'