MP Helen Jones has expressed great sympathy' for a couple caught out by an Internet scam - which also cost her money.

Their Internet connections were hijacked by iDialers', malicious computer programmes that make premium rate phone calls without the owners knowing.

It landed Dave and Susan Wilson, from Burtonwood, with a £974 bill to Internet providers BT.

"I have great sympathy for them," said Mrs Jones, MP for Warrington North.

"I returned from holiday to find my own computer had dialled a premium rate number in Costa Rica. Fortunately, I discovered the problem before significant call charges had been built up.

"I think BT should take greater responsibility in tackling the problem. They need to ensure more resources go to blocking iDialers. They need to provide free software to remove iDialers.

"I have raised the issue in Parliament and will be returning to it in the new session."

Security worker Dave, aged 43, and Susan, a 45-year-old teacher, were hit by the problem when they had a narrowband connection in late 2004.

Their computer, unknown to them, called £1.50-a-minute numbers registered in the South Pacific country Tuvalu.

The Exmouth Way couple have only just paid the money off with a loan, and switched to broadband, which is less susceptible to the problem.

They want to make people aware of the iDialer problem.

"BT were disgraceful," said Dave. "They came on saying they will take us to court; they will get county court judgements.

"I am paying the loan off, but at least we got them off our backs."

The couple were told by watchdog ICSTIS that nothing could be done as Tuvalu is not UK territory.

A BT spokesman said: "It isn't an issue for BT but we have alerted our customers to it over the past couple of years.

"There is no way of us knowing whether somebody is dialling these numbers knowingly or not.

"We provide the lines to our customers, but it's up to them to be responsible for how it is used."