E-mail con led to £800 losses (From Stroud News and Journal)

E-mail con led to £800 losses

THE BOSS of a Brimscombe Bed and Breakfast has urged people to be wary after she lost more than £800 in an elaborate Internet scam.

Liz Peters, of The Yew Tree at Walls Quarry, received an e-mail from a Jane Kenny in Holland claiming to be a recently bereaved pregnant widow with a teenage son.

Her doctor had advised her to leave the scene of her grief and move to England for the good of her unborn child.

She booked a five-week stay at the B&B and said she would instruct what she called her "remitter" to forward a cheque.

Last Tuesday, after some delay, a cheque for £5,000 arrived signed by two directors of a bonafide Birmingham firm.

But when Mrs Peters contacted the firm she was told several cheques had been stolen and the police were aware of the fraud.

Her bank duly confirmed the fraud returning the cheque and saying it had reported the incident to the police.

Explaining how the crook's scam would have worked, Mrs Peters said: "They send you the £5,000 and then ring you up and say sorry I sent the wrong money or I want to cancel the holiday and ask for the money back."

She estimates the con has cost her £800 worth of bookings over the five weeks she reserved for her fake guest.

"I feel really conned," she said. "I feel ridiculous because not only have I lost money but I've upset people because I've refused them staying here. To think there are such awful people out there thinking of anyway they can to get money out of you.

"We live in a sick world, that people can do this."