A MAN from Grange-over-Sands who nearly lost thousands of pounds when he fell victim to an Internet scam is warning others against falling into the same trap, reports Ryth Lythe.

Freelance outdoor education tutor Robin Gibbons, 28, got more then he bargained for when he tried to sell his old computer over a web site. As an experienced Internet user, Mr Gibbons felt that he was unlikely to be targeted by fraudsters and was well aware of any possible dangers.

He said: "I was supplying a laptop for £950 and somebody got in touch through the web site asking for further details about it."

He replied giving full details of the computer and a short time later received an e-mail from a man calling himself "Mark". He said that he wanted to buy the laptop and would be sending a cheque for £4,200.

Mr Gibbons pointed out that this was far more than the laptop was worth. But "Mark" wrote back saying that the excess £3,250 should be sent through a money transfer company to a Nigerian account. This should be done exactly three days after the cheque had gone into Mr Gibbons' bank account.

Although Mr Gibbons' suspicions were aroused by the fact that "Mark" was operating from an e-mail account for a "Tom Wood", yet his English "was not very good," he agreed to go ahead with the deal. According to plan, Mr Gibbons received the cheque and the money was paid into his account. However, his bank, HSBC, told him to hold off from sending the cash for an extra three days to make sure that the cheque had cleared. He wrote to "Mark" telling him of the delay and was shocked when the previous friendly e-mails took a nastier tone.

Mr Gibbons said: "He said that he was very surprised at my behaviour over the last few days and also started saying that he would go to prison if I didn't send the money."

Becoming more suspicious, Mr Gibbons decided to contact Western Union, the money transfer company he had been told to use, for advice before he sent off any cash and was told he had nearly fallen victim to a complicated scam.

Although the money was paid into his account, police believe that Mr Gibbons had fallen victim to a common scam. Thieves pay a stolen or fraudulent cheque into their victim's bank account. Unknowingly the bank clears the cheque, believing it to be genuine and the victim, transfers the cash to the fraudsters as requested. In a few cases the fake or stolen cheque does not come to light and the victim does not lose out. But often the cheque is later identified as stolen or bounces because it is a fake. The thieves get away with the transferred cash but the victim is left to pay the money back. Mr Gibbons would have eventually lost thousands of pounds if he had gone ahead with the transfer.

Mike Smith, a spokesman for Cumbria Police, said that although reports of these sorts of cases were not very common, computer users should steer clear of giving out personal information on web sites.