The ad headed "As part of our expansion program.....", in the Employment and Investment section of the Costa Blanca News 22/2/08 is a blatant "419" type scam. If anyone doesn't know what that is try googling it. Basically it involves dud cheques, usually from Nigeria. I don't suppose anyone would fall for it but I hate to see the evil ********s able to advertise in a reputable publication.

I am sure I have heard something like this before - and involving the same newspaper. You would think they would vet any adverts placed wouldn't you, particularly as ex-pats are so vulnerable!

Yes, the same thing happened a couple of months ago - I seem to recall that they spotted it after 1 week but this time it has been advertised for 2 weeks. I have sent them an e mail. I suppose it's not practical for them to vet every advert but maybe they could print a general warning.

A lot of the 419 scams were run from Spain, the Guardia arrested a lot in Madrid I think it was a few months ago.

Listening to R4 online yesterday - apparently most of the "boiler rooms" - these companies that set themselves up as share dealers and target people with fantastic share offers for fake companies are run from Spain.

The same ad has appeared in this weeks "Friday Ad".