POLICE and trading standards officers are warning people not to be taken in by elaborate scams that involve them sending off money to companies.

One e-mail received this week by a Gazette reporter was from a Loi Estrada, who claims to be the wife of Joseph Estrada, the former president of the Philippines.

Mrs Estrada says in her e-mail that she has siphoned off 30 million US dollars and has deposited the money with a security firm and asks our reporter to claim the money on her behalf.

DI Paul Ginger of Wiltshire police's fraud squad confirmed the e-mail was a hoax. He said other e-mails sent out claim to be from companies in Africa and Europe.

He said: "My advice to people who receive suspect e-mails is not to reply to them. The people who send the e-mails out send them to addresses at random and if you do reply they will work on you and it ends up costing you money."

Wiltshire Trading Standards are warning people not to part with money if they receive unsolicited letters or telephone calls saying they have won substantial prizes.

In order to claim the prizes, usually touted as large sums of money or a holiday, people have to send money to the organisers and are unlikely to receive anything in return.

Telephone calls that people have received have been made from the Cayman Islands and Vancouver and to release the prize money people have to send a cheque for £1,000. Other fraudsters ask for smaller amounts, like £15 to claim a £1,100 prize.

County trading standards manager Steve Clover said instances of scams like these have been increasing. He warned: "If something looks too good to be true, it probably is. The only person who ever makes any money from these scams is the person running it."