A CARIBBEAN-based lottery scam that could cost Flintshire residents thousands of pounds has been condemned by council chiefs.

Jamaican telemarketers posing as lawyers are calling consumers to say they have won a lottery but people are asked to send  money to “release”’ their winnings.

Some have even suffered threats of violence, arrest and removal to Jamaica if they do not pay up.

Flintshire Council’s trading standards team has teamed up with the Office of Fair Trading and the Serious Organised Crime Agency to warn people of the dangers.