A COUNCIL leader has warned residents not to be fooled by email lottery scams, after he was targeted by fraudsters.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council leader George Dunning received an email telling him his ticket been selected in a prize draw he had not even entered, apparently winning £643,206.

Councillor Dunning realised it was a scam and alerted the council's Trading Standards Unit.

The email invited Coun Dunning to send organisers his full name and address.

He said: "You should treat every email like this with suspicion. The important message is do not respond. Enough people do to make it worthwhile for the criminals."

The council's trading standards manager, David Sayer, said: "We are always concerned about this type of message. While there is no request for bank account details in this email, we are sure that the request would come if Councillor Dunning wrote back to claim his prize.

"We would expect the next message would ask for account details so the prize could be paid. In fact, the prize winner would become a prize loser as the account would be emptied."

Coun Dunning added: "Whilst it is difficult to stop these messages, we can at least, try to reduce their effect and urge people not to respond. If you respond to this sort of message, your name will go on a list that will be sold to other criminals and you will be inundated with more messages like this. As with all prize draws, you never win unless you buy a ticket."