Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper is calling for new laws to ban doorstep cold-callers who trick people into handing over cash for shoddy work.
Mr Lepper said he had been appalled by cases of vulnerable people, including pensioners, being pressed into paying for property improvement or maintenance work.
He has joined 80 MPs calling for new legislation to tackle the problem.
He spoke out ahead of talks to try to persuade the Government to back a Private Member's Bill introducing a ban on cold-calling, backed by penalties of up to three months in jail.
The Labour MP said: "I condemn sales tactics employed by some doorstep callers, resulting in vulnerable people parting with extortionate sums of money for unnecessary, shoddy or grossly overpriced work."
Andrew Robathan, the Tory MP who put the Bill forward, is to meet officials at the Home Office and the Department for Trade and Industry next week.
He predicted the talks would determine whether his backbench Bill had a realistic chance of becoming law.
A survey by the Trading Standards Institute found almost 96 per cent of people did not want cold-callers to knock on their door.
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