Ref. 71919-60A CRUEL hoax letter is being circulated in Swindon asking businesses to help a seven-year-old boy with cancer.

Victims of the scam are asked to send a compliment slip to a terminally boy called John Craggs, whose dream is to get into the records books before he dies.

The letter says the boy's ambition is to get into the Guinness Book of Records for collecting the most compliment slips.

In fact, the hoaxers are using the slips to build up a database to send out reams of unwanted junk mail.

It asks the reader to rewrite the letter and send it on to 10 other companies as a matter of urgency, as time is running out for the boy.

Trading standard's officers in Swindon were alerted to the letter when a copy was sent in good faith to the borough council's Social Services unit.

It was sent by Zandra Sharp the business manager at Moormead Nursing Home in Wroughton.

Zandra, 44, was completely taken in by the heartbreaking tale of the little boy.

Now she is furious and is urging other recipients to bin the letter.

"I got it from another nursing home, so I thought it was credible," she said.

"I was really touched by this story, and sent it to lots of other nursing homes and to Social Services.

"I really wanted to help him. I even chased people up to make sure they had sent their slips off.

"I can't believe I was so gullible. I feel disgusted.

"Anyone who receives it should throw it away."

The letter Zandra received contained the names of hundreds of firms it had been sent to so far to ensure no one received it more than once.

Robert Taylour, who heads trading standards at Swindon Council, said: "This scam originated in 1989 when a boy named Craig Shergold was diagnosed with cancer and the UK media publicised his desire to be in the Guinness Book of Records.

"Craig successfully received treatment and made a full recovery, as well as breaking the world record.

"But hoaxers soon latched on to his story and have been using his name or variations of it ever since to con people into sending them their details."

Copies of the letter have been sent all over the country, and have even been received in Australia.

In April, hundreds were sent to public officials and politicians in Wales, including Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik.

The situation got so bad the Royal Mail complained it was clogging up the postal system.

Copies have been reported in Brighton, Sunderland, and it is currently being sent to schools in Warwickshire.

Tamash Lal