The Billingham woman was told she had won �800,000 in a German lottery and to claim her prize she had to send �2,000, which was followed by further demands.

Cleveland Police were called in when the costs got out of control and uncovered victims across the country.

Police said the scam operators were very convincing and give out automated hotline numbers, which confirm the win and made it seem legitimate.

'Life savings'

The money was eventually sent to bank accounts outside the UK to places such as Canada and Estonia, making recovery of the funds difficult, if not impossible.

Acting Det Sgt Ashley Harvey said: "This is part of a much larger scale 'lottery scam' and forces from across the county are reporting similar instances where people are losing huge amounts of money.

"It seems that people are being convinced by the tactics used by these criminals to the point they are prepared to risk their life savings in order to make money.