A CHAIN letter encouraging people to mail 200 strangers is circulating again in the Darlington area.

The letter, bearing the name of David Rhodes, promises about £40,000 to anyone who photocopies it and sends it on.

The letter asks the recipient to add their name to a list of six people and promises that people to whom the letter is forwarded will send money in return. The letter says that it should be forwarded to 200 strangers.

It suggests that the recipient buys a BT telephone book for an area outside his or her home town to get the names and addresses to pass the chain letter to.

An 83-year-old woman from Darlington received the letter.

She said: "I have had chain letters before, but never one suggesting that I write to 200 people I have never met. I don't think people should be encouraged to buy telephone books in order to get strangers' addresses.

"My letter came from Oxfordshire and was addressed to Darlington, in Yorkshire, so the person who sent it obviously does not know the area."

A spokeswoman for the Trading Standards department in Darlington said anyone receiving a letters should destroy it immediately.

She said: "Letters like this that ask people to send money out in order to receive a windfall do not work.

"They usually only benefit the person at the start of the chain.

"Our advice is that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is and these letters should be thrown away."

The letter from David Rhodes was also circulated in Darlington earlier this year.

It says that each person who sends the letter to 200 strangers will have to spend £87 on postage to receive £40,000 back.

The Darlington pensioner, who asked not to be named, said: "£87 is a lot of money, but if someone is not working or has a badly paid job they might think it is worth the gamble."