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By Jo Best, 3 December 2003 12:15

NEWS The government has today warned against a new telephone scam that tries to con people out of their hard-earned cash by using the promise of a lucrative lottery win just waiting to be collected.

Anyone with an email inbox that's ever fallen foul of a spammer has probably received more than a few winning notifications from an obscure national lottery - all you have to do is give them your bank details and you'll be a few million better off, the story goes - but the con is now hitting Britain via the humble phone.

The latest version of the scam has victims receiving a phone call or a mailshot from the Canadian, Australian or Spanish national lottery telling them they've won a significant prize and they just need to send off a processing fee to get their hands on the cash. Unsurprisingly, the crafty Canadians never cough up – and the 'winners' are left worse off.

The tricksters often demand more than one payment from the supposed prize winners – one victim paid £67,000 to get their hands on fake the lottery millions.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has said that thousands of UK consumers have already been taken in by the scam, losing around £3m between them to the con artists. Elderly consumers are most at risk – the OFT said that around 80 per cent of those affected are over 65. The scammers often pretend to be government officials, customs officer or lawyers to gain the people's trust, and avoid being brought to justice because their victims are too embarrassed to report them.

The scam is proving to be lucrative business for the Canadians scammers – with call centres being set up specifically to fleece the British 'winners'. One call centre managed to swindle £450,000 out of UK targets.

If you get one of these phone calls, the usual advice applies – if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't send off any money in advance and don't give out your bank details. And next time the Canadians come calling, you could always remind them it's highly unlikely you've won the Canadian national lottery, for one simple reason – there isn't one.