Businesses are being warned to be on their guard against bogus demands for money from a web site company.

Trading standards in Brighton were alerted to the problem by Commercial Finance People in Portland Road, Hove, which received one of the fake invoices on Monday.

Trading standards officers say the letter, being sent out by a company named Central Web Pages (CWP) Register Ltd, is a scam being used across Britain.

The issue is being investigated by officers at Barnet council in London.

Pru Heron of Commercial Finance People said: "The letter was asking us to pay £225.60 to register our web site. It said it would cut off our domain if we did not pay.

"At first we tried to ring the number on the invoice but the phone either just kept ringing and ringing or we got a funny message."

The address given by CWP on the invoice was in Finchley Road, London.

A spokesman for Barnet trading standards said: "If anyone receives one of these letters we are advising them to bin them."

Brighton trading standards believe CWP is based overseas, possibly in Germany.