An Ulster woman said she lost a diamond engagement ring worth £2,000 - after being caught out by a scam on the internet site eBay.

Lisa Woodside, from north Belfast, placed the ring on eBay hoping to raise money for Christmas.

She received an email from a buyer she believed to be from Dallas, USA, offering £1,200.

But after Ms Woodside was asked to send the ring to the buyer’s sister in Nigeria the money never appeared in her account.

It soon emerged the so-called buyer was using a fraudulent internet payment account and sending ” spoof emails”.

Ms Woodside contacted eBay, the police and Royal Mail.

But she said she is not confident she will see her ring again and last night she called for tighter monitoring of internet auction sites.

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Posted: 12|1|07 at 9:42 am. Filed under: Auction News.