PENSIONERS whose hopes were raised almost beyond belief by news of a £2.8million windfall have condemned fraudsters behind the scam.

Brenda and Paul Spence were nearly duped into sending off £200 to secure the promised lottery bonanza after receiving a letter, congratulating them on their luck.

The letter, claiming to be from Mississippi Finance and Securities, said they had won £2.8million on the El Mundo Spanish Sweepstake Lottery.

"Your fund is now deposited with a security company and insured in your name", stated the letter.

The couple, of Tang Hall, were asked to keep the news secret until the money was in their account "to avoid double claiming".

Brenda, 65, said the letter was laser-printed on quality, headed paper with their names on the envelope, and seemed genuine.

They had immediately started thinking about how to spend their millions.

"Paul had a new house and car going through his mind," she said.

Paul, 67, phoned the company which asked him for £200 to insure the cheque.

Brenda, who works at St William's College, York, shared the news with her friend, Pru Young, who contacted Trading Standards.

Principal officer Matt Boxall said the official Spanish lottery did not ask for money up front or bank details.

"This is the first complaint of its kind this year," he said. "It is nice to think you have won something. But people prey on this and we urge people to be very suspicious. Our experience suggests if it seems too good to be true it usually is."

Brenda said she would have been "gutted" to have parted with £200 - and lost it.

She said: "We would have had to borrow the money to start with. We just want to warn people about it. If anyone gets a letter like this, bin it. For goodness sake, don't go spending.

"We were really disappointed. Everything goes through your mind about what you could do with that kind of money. One minute you are up with all the adrenalin.

"Now I am very angry. It built our hopes up - and they are getting money by deception."

Pru, events co-ordinator at St William's College, said: "If you genuinely win something nobody asks for money up front. It is like winning the Lottery and them asking for £500 to secure the cheque. It doesn't make sense. They would probably bring the cheque round in a limo with the Evening Press taking photographs."

Humberside Police are also warning people never to disclose personal or bank details to an unknown party after being alerted to an email, claiming to be from Microsoft Lottery which promises a $1 million lottery prize.

Updated: 09:55 Monday, August 01, 2005