COUNCIL chiefs in the North-East have moved to crack down on a series of malicious e-mails being sent in their name to addresses across the country.

The messages refer to Redcar and Cleveland Council's social services department and purport to be from the authority.

The council says the author of the e-mails has disguised his or her identity and is sending them randomly to people across the country via websites and newsgroups.

It has now demanded action to close down their e-mail account and is taking legal advice over the content of the messages, entitled Does Your Social Services Act Like This?

Council chiefs say the intention is to swamp the authority's computer systems by encouraging people to respond to the messages.

One recipient of the e-mail, who did not want to be named, said: "It is fairly vicious stuff. I find it strange that this has been allowed to go on for so long without something being done about it."

Graham Hadfield, Redcar and Cleveland Council's regulatory officer, said: "This is a process known as 'spoofing' and is often used by individuals who send spam e-mails such as this one.

"The intention of the sender, apart from defaming the individuals he mentions, appears to be to encourage a massive number of complaints to the council in order to overwhelm our computer servers.

"The council has identified that the sender's e-mail account is hosted by BT Openworld and BT has been asked to take action."

A spokesman for BT said: "We are asking the council for more information so we can investigate properly and, if necessary, take the appropriate action."