Trading standards bosses have launched a double "scam" warning - to businesses in York and householders in North Yorkshire.

City of York Council's trading standards officers say an apparently innocuous mailshot, originating in Liechtenstein, invites businesses to check their company name and address details and return a form "even if you do not place an order".

They add the minute it takes to confirm or amend the details as requested, and to tick the box which indicates the nature of their business, may commit them to unwittingly placing an order for publication in the next two following editions of an annual Tour and Travel Guide - costing about £577 - together with an order for the guide at an additional cost of about £40.

This is because merely correcting or adding to the details on the form, possibly with a careless signature below the small print, may have the effect of confirming an order which, the guide's publishers state, will become "valid and binding" with retrospective cancellation "not possible".

Head of trading standards Colin Rumford said: "Over the past couple of years many businesses in the area have had their fingers burned as a result of signing up, albeit unknowingly, to The European City Guide and then receiving an unexpected invoice. The way in which the Tour and Travel Guide is presented would appear to be very similar."

Mr Rumford said using regulatory powers effectively against a company which is based abroad but targets businesses in the UK was extremely difficult.

He added: "We would urge businesses to thoroughly check any mailshot which gives the impression it offers free advertising and, if in doubt, to contact City of York Trading Standards."

Meanwhile North Yorkshire trading standards officers are investigating a "trans-Atlantic lottery scam" targeting people in the county.

A resident was phoned by a company claiming to be Lotto Net of Newfoundland and telling her she had won a £240,000 prize - but it was dependent on her paying £2,400 for the claim to be processed and tax paid. The amount was reduced to a processing fee of £800 when the caller became suspicious. Instead of paying she called trading standards.

Its head Stuart Pudney said: "This is a new angle on a common scam. It is not possible that callers have won such large amounts of money on this lottery when they didn't enter in the first place.

"In any case, winners would not be dealt with like this. What concerns us is the fact that this is such a large amount to lose, and once sent would be impossible to get back. Our response remains that when something looks too good to be true it usually is."

Updated: 11:20 Thursday, May 24, 2001