VULNERABLE residents are being targeted by get-rich-quick conmen offering home-based work in return for huge fees.

The situation has become so bad that Preston Borough Council and Lancashire's Trading Standards have been forced to issue simultaneous warnings, after 40 schemes were discovered to be operating in the area.

Advertisements offer the would-be workers the chance to rake in the cash by carrying out simple jobs, such as stuffing envelopes.

But the catch is the registration fee - which can be up to £200, often asked for up-front.

According to trading standards, many of the schemes turn out to be unworkable.

A spokesman for the Guidhall Street-based department said 500 complaints had been received in the past year relating to the homeworking projects.

He said: "There are various bogus homeworking schemes in the area which hold out the prospect of lucrative earnings potential, but are preying on vulnerable and unemployed people in the area .

"But the schemes often turn out to be unworkable and the only way people can get anything out of it is to entice more innocent victims into them.

"The registration fee is very rarely recovered." A new EU directive was could solve the problem by cracking down on distance selling.

Preston Council has also urged locals to steer clear of the schemes after it was contacted by The Yorkshire Homeworking Unit, which warned against getting involved in such schemes. A council spokesman said: "Anyone wanting to work from home should contact genuine local companies."

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