Mrs West said she was desperate to get her life savings back

Elizabeth and Bryan West were told they had won �30,000 but in order to collect their winnings they would have to pay for a courier and Canadian tax.

The conmen persuaded the couple to hand over more than �4,500, but a cheque for their "cash prize" never arrived.

Canadian police are now investigating the scam, which is estimated to make about �5m a year from UK residents.

Mr and Mrs West said on one occasion the criminals posed as officials from Vancouver airport.

'Taken in'

They told Mrs West the courier carrying her cheque was ready to fly to England but could not leave Canada until a tax bill of more than �2,000 had been settled.

"She said that she was holding on to this courier and all he had was this cheque with my name on it," said Mrs West. "She said she couldn't release it until I had paid Canadian tax."

Mrs West added she was not the type of person to fall for a scam.

"If I heard it had happened to someone else I would have asked myself how they could have been taken in?"

Canadian police warned the public to be wary of any free prize offers which required the winner to make an upfront payment.