A BUSINESSMAN who has been targeted by a scam involving a South African mining company is warning Worcestershire residents and businesses to be on their guard.

Sixty-seven-year-old Vernon Rowberry, of Tolladine Road, Worcester, received a letter from a Dr Michael Ziki promising him millions of dollars for depositing $14.2m temporarily into his bank account.

Similar scams have been continuing for some time now, whereby individuals are targeted by fraudulent letters from criminals posing as high-ranking officials.

The money they offer usually never exists and the victim's account may be cleared once the offenders have their bank details.

Their account information may then also be used for criminal activities.

"Dr Ziki" claimed to be a director with the South Africa Department of Mining and Natural Resources and stated in the letter the money they wanted to transfer to Mr Rowberry's account was an overdue payment owed to them.

The letter said Mr Rowberry should contact "Dr Ziki" on a number stated on the correspondence to let him know if he was interested.

This is the third time Mr Rowberry, who runs his own plumbing and heating business, has been targeted by such a letter in the past two years and he is now keen to alert people so they are not taken in.

The second time it happened he followed the offer up, up to the point when he was asked for his bank details but he refused to disclose them.

"Anybody who answers it is going to lose a lot of money and I think there really should be a warning to other people in the area not to get involved with this," he said.

Steve Birch, operations manager for Worcestershire County Council's trading standards service, said: "We'd advise any consumers or businesses who receive letters of this type to view them with extreme scepticism."