CON men have tricked a Gwent pensioner out of thousands of pounds.

The 84-year-old woman, who lives alone, was taken in by unsolicited mailshots promising her thousands of pounds of prize money.

She paid a small administration fee to claim but no prize money has ever arrived.

The woman from Pontypool, who asked not to be named, wants to warn other people not to fall for the con.

There is little police can do as most are operated from abroad.

She said her problems started in June last year after she started taking part in a foreign lottery.

She was soon inundated with letters and phone calls from other international organisations offering big prizes - if she just sent off a small sum of money for processing her prize.

Torfaen council's trading standards officers took away three boxes full of letters which arrived since last June.

They are still working through the pile of mail but estimate she could have sent away around £5,000, most of it consisting of banknotes stuffed into return envelopes.

"The first letter said I'd won £20,000 and I had to send off £20 for admin to get it. I sent that off and it went from there," she said.

Despite responding to offers that promised her a fortune, all she's received are several sets of glasses cases and some cheap jewellery.

"I have written back to these companies asking them to stop but they just send more letters," she said. "I get around 10 every day."

Alan Branch-O'Neill, Torfaen council's senior fair trading officer, said the advice was: never respond to the letters.

"If you do, you are put on a sucker list, which is sold to other mailers who also start sending you offers," he said.

"It's very difficult for the authorities to do anything about them. Most come from post boxes abroad.

"This lady contacted us because she didn't know how to stop it. She was getting really worried. They are preying on vulnerable people of all ages who just put money into envelopes and send it off."

They are now helping the pensioner and have advised her to sign up to a scheme funded by legitimate mail order businesses which should block the majority of mailings.