A 74YEAROLD Loughton woman has been targeted by international con merchants who asked her to send £399 to Canada for the chance to win £250,000.

Peggy Marshall, of Oakwood Hill, received a telephone call from a Vancouver-based company telling her she was in the final stages of a draw to win a £250,000 first prize or a £100,000 second prize. But the catch was that she had to send £399, purportedly to pay for the costs incurred by the company.

Mrs Marshall said: "A woman phoned me and said I was included in a list of the last ten people to win this money. But after the call they came back to me just ten minutes later and said I was now in the top two and would win either £100,000 or £250,000.

"She kept asking me how I would spend this money but told me to keep the details of the phone call to myself to protect me from people who would want to get their hands on the money."

This was the first of several phone calls Mrs Marshall received from Canada. During each call she was coaxed to part with her money.

But the astute grandmother refused every advance and phoned Essex Trading Standards. She even told the woman caller that she though it was a con.

She said: "I said to her: 'you must think I'm very stupid if you think I'm going to part with £399', and told her I'd spoken to trading standards and they advised me 'not to touch you with a barge pole'."

Mrs Marshall is now warning the public not to hand over money for prizes that she says will never materialise.

"I would hate to think some mug will hand over £399. It's usually the people who have the least money who will part with money in the hope that they can get something more in return."

As a result of Mrs Marshall's comments, the Guardian contacted the Canadian Mounted Police fraud section, which specifically deals with this sort of operation. If anyone has any concerns about 'competitions' like this they can either contact Essex Trading Standards on 01245 341800 or e-mail the European Enforcement team at euroteam@oft.gsi.gov.uk or by post at Fleetbank House, 26 Salisbury Square, London, EC4Y 8JX.