A COMPUTER scam which has claimed victims across North Yorkshire is set to be tackled by telecom bosses.

A Selby area man alerted British Telecom to the problem of calls being made from his computer to a remote African island, which cost him £50.

Since then, more customers have contacted the Evening Press, having had bills of up to £364 run up on their phone line.

Now BT has told the first complainant, Harold George, of Main Road, Hambleton, they will be contacting all their customers to alert them to the problem.

The Evening Press reported yesterday how Wendy Whitbourn, of York, was a victim of the same "sting" as Mr George, running up a bill of £364 for calls to the same island of Sao Tome, which she had not made.

Computer programmer Tony Cullen, also of Hambleton, near Selby, faced charges of £80 for premium-rate calls, which were made while he was asleep.

Chris McMahon, of York, said his phone was disconnected because of one £85 phone call after his computer dialled up an untraceable premium-rate number.

The customers have been told they are victims of a computer scam in which internet users unwittingly download a rogue automatic dialler, which calls the premium-rate lines without their knowledge.

BT has now agreed that this is the likely scenario in the case of Mr George, an oil industry technical manager.

In a letter to Mr George, 57, BT customer service investigator Mark Catterall writes: "BT is aware that this is becoming increasingly common for calls to be made inadvertently whilst on the internet.

"We are striving to increase consumer awareness on this type of activity."

"All consumers will be receiving information along with their bill over the ensuing months and it is intended this will alert customers to what can be done to prevent the problem."

BT is recommending a number of measures, including barring international numbers, but it does charge for these services.

Mr George said: "I think it's very interesting they are going to put a letter out to everyone now this has been raised, but I'm not happy with BT's response.

"We have still had to pay that bill for £50 for absolutely nothing, which I do find very disappointing."

Updated: 11:01 Wednesday, April 21, 2004