Members of the community are being warned to steer clear of pyramid money-making schemes after reports that a new venture has been launched in the region.

The scheme is similar to the Hearts scheme which caught out celebrities including Cilla Black earlier this year.

The Blackburn ring is made-up of predominantly Asian women and the pyramid features hearts to represent the 'gift'. No-one can join unless they are a friend of someone else and have to supply all their contact details.

People are being invited to join a scheme which promises to deliver up to £24,000 from an initial payment.

A meeting was held in Blackburn on Friday, October 3, when new members were invited to give between £500 and £3,000 as their contribution.

The schemes -- which have been sweeping across the UK -- work on trust.

Initial investors sign over their chosen amount. They are then expected to recruit other people to do likewise, allowing the original recruits to move up a level in the pyramid.

When the top of the pyramid is reached and the recruit has their top pay-out they leave the scheme and make way for a new set of "winners".

One man, who did not want to be named, said that his wife had been invited to a similar meeting, where she was invited to 'invest' £3,000 in order to receive a pay-back of £24,000 - within six weeks.

He said, "She was told about the meeting through a friend of a friend.

"She was told it was women only but I told her if she was going to the meeting not to take any money with her.

"When she told me what is was all about I contacted Trading Standards and told them what had happened."

According to the Financial Services Authority the schemes are called pyramid schemes because there are hundreds of people at the bottom paying cash to join and just a few at the top.

The risk however is that the scheme can only deliver benefits for those that join at the bottom if there is an infinite number of people also prepared to join.

Sooner or later the scheme runs into trouble and the cash dries up and people who have put money in lose it and cannot get it back.

Chris Allen, head of Blackburn with Darwen Trading Standards, said, "We have received an anonymous tip off and whilst we cannot comment on individual schemes we would advise anyone considering investing in schemes of this nature to be very wary as their money is more often than not likely to be wasted."