Police in Cyprus are reported to have arrested a Lebanese man alleged to have swindled up to $10m in a fake lottery email scam.

Ali Mohamed Kdoud was arrested after a two-year investigation by Interpol into his online activities.

He is accused of sending emails suggesting that the recipient had won a large prize in an overseas lottery.

In order to get the money the recipient would have to pay 'registration and processing fees'.

Police believe that the suspect funnelled millions of dollars into an American bank account.

"We are seeing more and more scammers arrested as they defraud thousands of victims with phoney emails. It is high time these crooks paid the price for their greed," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant at Sophos.

"This latest arrest must serve as a wake-up call for all computer users. Before you start dreaming about spending the rest of your days on a beach, make sure you verify all unsolicited emails for authenticity.

"If in any doubt, don't reply, or you risk ending up light in the pocket, not to mention frustrated that you got duped by one of the oldest email scams in the book."

Government figures suggest that email scams defraud Britons of over £1bn a year.