Your story about the warning from Thames Valley Police about the scam e-mail (Oxford Mail, December 16) was a bit late for me.

I was on the computer when suddenly it just appeared. I was astonished and surprised to say the least.

However, as I read it, alarm bells began to ring. The spelling of several words indicated that this was not that official, and the idea that they had frozen my computer, although they had done so, seemed a step too far.

But the giveaway was the e-mail addresses were not as they would have been for the police.

I promptly put my computer through several virus checks and all was well again.

It always pays to read all suspicious messages carefully and don’t trust anything, regardless from whom, unless you’re absolutely sure about it.

JIM WADE Ridgeway Road Risinghurst