East Sussex County Council's Trading Standards service is warning people that the scam involves a request for payment of £147 'membership dues'.

The request is on yellow paper headed YELLOW PAGES World Family, with symbols similar to genuine Yellow Pages trademarks.

The request also includes a spelling error with the word cheque spelt as 'check', and is accompanied by an envelope addressed to Yellow Pages World Family, 27 Old Gloucester Street WC1N 3XX, UK.

Enquiries show that mail is forwarded from that address to another accommodation address, and it is believed the ultimate destination is Eastern Europe.

There is an associated website, yellowpagesworldfamily.com, registered in Serbia.

Councillor Bob Tidy, lead member for community services at the county council, said, "This is yet another scam with the aim of taking money from local businesses and other organisations.

"When numerous bills come through on a daily basis it could be easy for a business to be caught out so my advice would be to watch out for these types of scams.

"Don't respond and throw the information straight into the recycle bin."