The Office of the Information Commissioner has issued an urgent warning to alert IT managers to registration scams concerning compliance with data protection law.

The information commissioner, Richard Thomas, announced late last month that he had received a spate of complaints from managers who had received letters requesting fees of up to £95 for registering as a "data controller" under the terms of the Data Protection Act (DPA). The actual registration fee is £35 per year.

In a statement, Thomas advised: "The golden rule is that if you receive a letter out of the blue demanding more than £35 to register under the DPA this will be a scam. Our simple message to businesses is to throw the letter in the bin and not to pay the fee demanded."

Firms that need to register but have not yet done so should go to the information commissioner's web site, where their rights, terms and conditions are spelled out in detail.

Thomas said that since the new law came into force, such scams have cost UK businesses huge amounts of money. "My office still receives over 2,000 calls a month from anxious businesses," he added.

The information commissioner's powers allow him to take action against bogus registrars, and Thomas said he would work with local authorities and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to ensure that more businesses do not get fooled.

Thomas added that a list of the companies being investigated by the OFT is available on his department's web site - at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk - and there is also a helpline number: 01625 545 740.