WARNING! If you get a letter from Angela Almera, then chuck it in the bin as fast as you can. It could save you a fortune - not to mention peace of mind.

Angela Almera - who looks as if she's just popped in to clean the church or do meals on wheels - is the face fronting a money making scam circulating in the region. It is particularly nasty because she claims to be psychic and says that there is all sorts of danger and bad luck hovering round you and only she can save you.

But only if you send her £20, of course. What a surprise.

Her very long letter warns of "imminent danger...", "a concentration of negative forces hovering round you...", "one failure leading to another...", "sensation of danger...", "harmful influences...", "serious problem...", "Inexplicable streak of bad luck...".

Definitely not for those of a nervous disposition.

To counter all these dreadful events, she offers you the Secret Bible of Luck and Happiness and a bit of tacky plastic that she says is your Golden Luck Talisman.

It is garbage. Rubbish. Absolute and utter drivel.

"It's a pernicious scam," says Len Swift of North Yorkshire Trading Standards. "The woman - or rather, whoever is behind this - is an absolute charlatan, preying on people's fears.

"And we know that it's not just the elderly or vulnerable people who are at risk of being tricked. These people are very clever and we've had very intelligent, perfectly sensible people who've parted with considerable sums of money."

Our letter was sent to us by Mrs Evelyn Kelsey who wrote: "I am 82 years old but not as gaga as they think." The letter originates in The Netherlands, with a post box address for your money. But it has also circulated widely in Australia and New Zealand, where the government consumer departments have warned people not to have anything to do with it, and also in Germany, where a website has a lot of fun at "Angela's" expense.

But it is, of course, no laughing matter.

Scams such as these are big businesses. The Office of Fair Trading reckon that every year, we lose a staggering £1bn in scams, draws, lotteries, premium rate prize draws, psychic mailings and miracle health cures. So much so, that they've now launched the Scambusters team, to cope with it all.

"It's very difficult because these people hide behind all sorts of bogus identities and mail box addresses. By the time we get through to them, they've moved on," says Len. "But we are working closely with other agencies in Europe. We had some success with organisations that worked out of Switzerland and we are constantly sharing knowledge and resources. But the best weapon of all against these people is for the public to be aware of them and not to send them money.

"The simple rule is that if it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Be sceptical. Don't fall for it."

HOW TO SPOT A SCAM

*They offer you something for nothing, such as a prize in a lottery you haven't entered, a sure fire way to make money, or the secret of luck and happiness.

*They'll ask you to send money or give your bank details, or ring a premium rate phone line - calls can easily cost £10 a time. We also heard from John Walker of Bishop Auckland, whose elderly mother received a letter from The Prize Bank Consortium. Claiming a prize from them will cost £10.50 in phone calls plus £2.95 for processing and packaging.

*They ask you to send money immediately, usually saying it's for postage or administration. They give a PO Box number as their address.

Scams are big business only because we fall for them. The easiest way to stop them is to bin the letters as soon as you get them.

P.S. I have Mrs Kelsey's "Gold Luck Talisman" on my desk now and I have promised her and Len Swift that if I win millions on the Lottery this weekend, I shall share it with them.

We are none of us holding our breath.

Top of the toy shops

FANCY shopping in Hamleys this weekend? It is, of course, the world's biggest toy shop, covering seven floors at its base in London's Regent Street.

But we now have two small - very small - Hamleys outlets in the region: one at Boundary Mill, Shiremoor, and another in the McArthur Glen outlet outside York. They carry only a fraction of the range of the main store, but have some amazing bargains.

At York, for instance, we found their own brand ten in one games chest at £29.99 (normally £49.99), wooden marionettes at £4.99 (from £15.99), Baby Zapf dolls at £6.99 (£9.99), My Little Pony Celebration £29.99 (£39.99), 34-piece dress up treasure box £39.99, Princess Barbie £9.99, MX Magnum remote control tractor and trailer £39.99, remote control Beetle cabriolet £27.49.

Plus lots of dolls and cuddly toys, and stock is changing all the time.

The Boundary Mill store opened in the spring and the York one only last month. But they should both be around for some time.

While in McArthur Glen we found some other bargains for Christmas shoppers such as:

Chocolate fondue set, £25 at Bodum

Pastel duffel coats, £59 in Marks & Spencer (were £89)

Packs of wonderfully smelly soaps, £4.99 at Woods of Windsor

Parkas, £85 at Adidas

Hard shell expanding suitcase, £25 (was £85) at Travel Accessories

Duffel coats, £90 (were £129) Racing Green

Jumper, £39.95 (was £75) DKNY

506 straight leg jeans, £40 (were £75) Levis

Fleece, £26 (was £40) at Reebok

Yellow cookware, £60 (was £92) at Le Creuset

Again, because of the nature of the shops, stock is constantly changing but it is one of the more pleasant outlet centres.

A woolly wonder

Remember Cyberllama? It's the Darlington company which imports fair traded goods from Peru and sells them mainly over the internet. It now has a stall on Darlington market - the brilliantly named Darlo Lllama - and also at Richmond indoor market on Wednesdays and Fridays.

THE Secrets Behind England's Finest Gardens is a four DVD box set which would make the perfect gift for armchair gardeners. It reveals the incredible beauty of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, awakened from 70 years of slumber; the sun drenched sub-tropical terraces of the Abbey Garden on Tresco in the Isles of Scilly; the quintessential English gardens of Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, with its breathtaking 150 metre double herbaceous borders, and the spectacular Alnwick Garden in Northumberland, with its amazing cascade, David Austin rose collection and £3.5m tree house.

The DVDs are designed to be simple and easy to use, with scene selection, top ten plants and a comprehensive plant finder with images and full botanical and variety names. The set costs £29.99 from high street retail outlets including WH Smith, online at www.dancing-bee.com or by calling the freephone number 0800 953 0123.