NORTH Yorkshire trading standards office has warned farmers and other business people to be on their guard and ignore any invitation to invest in a fraudulent scheme to send money to Nigeria.

This elaborate scam has already cost many business people up to £310,00 each in what is considered to be a £35m fraud and one local farmer has already been approached.

The conmen send out a letter inviting the recipient to help in transferring tens of millions of dollars in overdue contract payments to a foreign bank account, namely their own, or their company's.

For this help, the sender promises to pay 20pc of the value of the cash transferred (amounting to several million dollars) to the individual.

After an exchange of letters and bank details, the target is then asked to make a payment to cover the cost of lawyers' fees.

This is likely to be the last contact the victim will have - and their money will disappear forever.

Mr Allen Duffeld, who farms near Thirsk, was offered $6.2m in return for letting $31m in overdue contract payments to the former military rulers of Nigeria be paid into his bank account.

But he was among 99pc of people who did not fall for the scam.

He said that even though farming was going through a rough time, he, like many others, had been brought up to earn an honest living.

"I am not the idiot that the sender is expecting and I know that in this world you only get what you work for," he said.

A spokesman for the trading standards office at county hall said its office was aware of the scam and that the police were investigating.

"We would advise anyone approached in this way not to give their bank account details to people they do not know."

Mixed news on waiting lists

SURGICAL waiting lists across North Yorkshire are continuing to perform well against a regional target, the county health authority heard.

Overall waiting list figures to the end of May showed 13,393 patients waiting for treatment, 919 fewer than the target set regionally for the authority to achieve.

The number of people waiting more than 13 weeks for an out patient appointment stood at 2,996, 273 fewer than the set target.

There was less positive news, however, about patients waiting more than 12 weeks. Total waiting rose from 80 at the end of April to 169 at the end of May.

Mr Barrie Fisher, chief executive of the authority, said this was causing concern and action plans were being discussed to tackle the issue urgently.

There were no breaches of the breast cancer waiting times target, of two weeks from GP referral to being seen by a consultant. There were seven breaches of other cancer targets in Harrogate and the health authority had initiated discussions to tackle the issue.

Hearing adjourned

A DISCIPLINARY hearing against North Yorkshire coroner Mr Jeremy Cave has been adjourned to a date to be fixed pending a criminal trial.

Mr Andrew Miller, for the Law Society, told the hearing in London on Tuesday that Mr Cave, of Croft Heads, Sowerby, Thirsk, was charged with four offences of obtaining money transfer by deception.

His next court hearing is in the first week of September and a trial date, likely to be next year, will not be known until later this year.

Mr Miller, who requested the disciplinary hearing adjournment, said Mr Cave would feel impeded in criminal proceedings if he had to answer the allegations at the tribunal.

Mr Cave practised as Jeremy Cave solicitors, Thirsk, but the business was shut down by the office for the supervision of solicitors pending the tribunal hearing.