PYRAMID schemes which offer people the chance to get rich quick but often leave them broke have returned to Lancashire.

Trading Standards bosses are warning that schemes similar to ones wound up in the past by the Department of Trade and Industry are targeting people in the county.

Lancashire County Council's Trading Standards Department has already received inquiries from people in the area asking about the schemes.

They work by one person being recruited by an existing member and paying anywhere up to £3,000 to join. The idea is the new recruit should make money back by recruiting a number of new people, who in turn have to make their money back by recruiting more people.

While the people who launch the schemes normally get rich, people lower down the chain often end up out of pocket as it becomes harder to find people to recruit and the chain slows down or stops.

"The danger is that these types of networks break down as the pool of new investors quickly dries up," said a spokesman for Trading Standards.

"Participants joining the scheme then stand a good chance of losing their original contribution rather than benefiting from the scheme."

Schemes which do not involve any trading products or services nor any form of company structure or control are difficult to control under current UK legislation on pyramid schemes or multi-level marketing and the Department of Trade and Industry is currently looking at how such schemes could be dealt with.

County Councillor Tim Ormrod, Cabinet Member for Public Protection and Rural Affairs, said: "These pyramid schemes prey on people's expectations to earn considerable amounts of money. However, because of the past problems with these schemes I am concerned that people may lose thousands of pounds of hard earned cash.

"I want Lancashire consumers to be aware of these schemes and of the risks associated with them."

Hundreds of people in Lancashire became ensnared in one of the biggest pyramid schemes of all time, called Titan, which reached its peak in 1997.

Around £17million was lost by investors.