TRADING standards bosses today renewed their warning to jobseekers not to take part in dodgy working from home schemes.

They also advised newsagents against allowing advertisements for the homeworking vacancies to be placed in their shop windows.

Chris Allen, chief trading standards officer in Blackburn and Darwen, said advertisements often suggested that huge amounts of money could be earned by working at home in return for a registration fee.

People who send money to the promoter then find the offer of work is not genuine and they have lost their fee, which could range between £10 and £200.

Trading standards officers in Lancashire have already produced a leaflet outlining the dangers of the schemes.

Mr Allen added: "We would strongly advise people not to get involved.

"Nobody is going to benefit from these schemes and people can lose money. Also, we would urge newsagents not to place advertisement cards in their windows.

"If somebody gets involved in a homeworking scheme which is advertised in their shop, then the newsagent can often get the flak from the customer when something goes wrong."

Among the advice to jobseekers is to:

Don't pay cash up front.

Tell Trading Standards if you think the scheme is a con.

Be doubly suspicious if high earnings are claimed.

Don't get involved in a scheme without a real product or service.

Homeworking directories should be avoided. Good employers will pay to get staff and you should not have to pay for directories.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.