POLICE and trading standards are warning people of a scam, after an elderly woman was almost cheated out of £1,200.

The pensioner went into Callers Pegasus travel agents, in Darlington, on Tuesday, wanting to send £1,200 to someone in Canada - after she received a telephone call telling her she had won the Canadian lottery.

Staff at the travel agent, who transfer money via the Western Union service, suspected she was the victim of a scam and, after asking her questions, called the police.

Vicki Thornton, travel consultant at the Queen Street shop, said: "The lady wasn't one of our regular customers and I asked her if she was sending it to someone she knew.

"We have heard of this scam before and she said a man from Canada had phoned to tell her she had won the Canadian lottery but needed to send this money to cover the tax.

"It was her life savings, so we are really glad we caught it."

Nigel Green, manager of Darlington trading standards, said scams like this usually targeted a specific area at a time.

"We have about ten to 15 inquires about scams similar to this a week," he said. "But we don't tend to get contacted by people who have fallen for it."

He said people were targeted via junk mail, e-mail and cold calling and elderly people were often the victims, because they were more trusting. Telephone lottery scams topped a list of scams in a study by the Office of Fair Trading.

A spokeswoman for County Durham police said: "There are lots of scams like this one.

"We would urge anyone to be wary of any offer which seems too good to be true, particularly if it invites them to part with money.

"Anyone with any doubts should contact trading standards or the police."