CONSUMER watchdogs in Hartlepool are warning people not to be sucked into the misery of a chain letter.

The latest chain letter circulating in the town asks the recipient to send £10 to a person at the top of a list of names and addresses included in the letter.

The recipient is then asked to add their name to the list and send out the updated versions of the letter to 200 people picked at random.

The letter purports to come from someone in Norfolk and says all the recipient has to do is sit back and wait for people to send him or her £10.

It adds that if there is only a two per cent response he or she will receive more than £40,000.

Trading standards officers who have investigated chain letters in the past have warned the public to simply throw the letters away.

Malcolm Graham, Hartlepool Borough Council's senior trading standards officer, said: "People who have taken part in these chain letters have found that far from the money rolling in, very few people responded to them and they in fact made a loss.

"For a start, if you send out 200 letters, the second class postage alone comes to £40.

"The grim reality is that chain letters just bring a lot of unhappiness and misery and we always urge anyone who gets a chain letter to throw it straight into the bin."

The council's trading standards team can be contacted on (01429) 523351