A TRADING Standards officer has warned Swindon people to ignore a cynical e-mail that claims to be seeking help in allocating a dying man's fortune to charities.

The message comes from Iran and is addressed to "Dear friend".

It purports to be from a rich oil merchant who has only a few months to live and wants help in giving away part of his fortune to needy groups.

Advertiser columnist Shirley Mathias was among those to receive the message.

The sender, who calls himself Mr Adada Muhammadu, says he is dying from cancer of the oesophagus, has provided for his family and friends and has already given money to charity organisations in Cameroon, Liberia, Algeria and Malaysia.

He claims he now has $8m left on deposit with a finance security company abroad but is too weak to find other charities to support.

Senior consumer education and information officer Carla Baker of Swindon council's trading standards department, said the message was the latest in a series of scams.

People who responded would almost certainly be asked later to prove details of their bank account and could be fleeced.

"Many of these messages used to come from Nigeria. Now we are getting them from the Middle East," said Ms Baker.

"If anybody has been conned by messages like this one they need to contact the police."