AN ILKLEY resident is warning people to be on their guard for online conmen after losing £35 to a fake courier company.

The woman answered an offer of a free television and laptop on the Ilkley page of international website Freecycle - a non-profit organisation which encourages people to give away unwanted goods for free in an effort to reduce landfill tipping. She received a message from the person who listed the goods, saying she was temporarily living in another part of the country, not Ilkley, and giving her a website address for an online courier who could deliver the television and computer for £35.

She was asked to pay for delivery through an electronic money transfer system, which involves paying for a coded voucher in a high street shop, and entering the voucher code on the website of the intended recipient.

But after making payment by this method, she was told by the courier she would need to pay an additional £100 for insurance, which would be refunded when the delivery was made.

Suspicions raised, she instead contacted a well-known delivery company, who advised her this was not normal practice in the trade, and went on to inform police and report the incident to online national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, ActionFraud.

She has made efforts to alert Freecycle moderators.