A woman in charge of trading standards has become the latest target of an offer which seems too good to be true.

Brighton and Hove city councillor Jeane Lepper, like thousands of others across the city, received a letter saying she had won a prize.

It said she was guaranteed a free gift from a list, including a Sony widescreen television, luxury garden furniture, a £5,000 world cruise, a computer game console and a digital watch.

Coun Lepper was immediately suspicious of the offer as one of her responsibilities includes working with the city authority's trading standards department, protecting consumers.

The letter's small print stated the call you had to make to secure a prize cost £1 per minute and was "likely" to last for nine-and-a-half minutes. That works out at about £9.50 a call.

Coun Lepper, who is a member of the Mail Preference Service, which aims to prevent junk mail, said: "This is an offer to get you to ring a premium rate number. People really need to be warned to treat this with great care.

"It's ironic it has come to me. People need to remember that if an offer seems too good to be true then it usually is."

The small print also stated there was no limit to the number of digital watches the company, which has a PO Box address in Dublin, would give away.

The letter did not print the name of the company behind the offer, although it did say it was not open to employees of Mega Prizes, a firm not listed in the telephone book.

A spokesman for the council's trading standards department, said: "The only advice we can give to people is to be on their guard. We've had similar problems in the past although the companies seem to stay on the right side of the law."

The letter is the latest in a series of postal offers which, while not breaking the law, appear better than they are.

Scores of Argus readers have fallen victim to a scheme from Holidays Direct in which residents receive a letter telling them they have won a break for two if they pay a £29.50 per person registration fee.

Many readers said their cheques had been cashed but were unable to contact the company, based in Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth, even when calling the 24-hour line.

Staffordshire County Council's trading standards department were investigating the offer after they received complaints from residents in the county who had paid out.

A spokesman said: "You will have to pay more if you want to choose your destination, date of travel and your departure airport.

"You will probably be offered extras, such as insurance, transfers and places for children. You may have to pay airport duties."

He said the holiday could end up costing more than if someone had gone into a travel agents and bought a package.

The Argus tried to phone Holidays Direct but the line was dead.