Dear Editor — I wonder if there are any other readers like me, unaware of the ways of the wonderful electronic world of modern business?

I did not realise that direct debits on bank accounts can be arranged over the phone, by only divulging the bank sort code and account number.

Once it is done a company can — without telling you — use the internet to set up a direct debit, the amount of which may increase in the future. They are, my bank says, supposed to tell you that a direct debit will be set up, but my experience was that this was not done, and of course, since the whole thing was done over the phone, there is no proof of that either way.

This is apparently quite legal, but to my mind it is not far short of a scam.

Fred Nicholls White Berries, Long Street, Newport.