A NOTORIOUS get rich quick chain letter has reared its ugly head again in Chippenham.

The so-called David Rhodes Letter has been around since the 1980s in the post and on the Internet.

Recently there has been a surge of letters sent to homes in Chippenham, randomly selected from the phonebook.

The letter claims that the recipient can earn £40,000 in three months by following a few simple instructions.

The recipient is asked to send £10 to the top name in a list of six and then add their name to the top of the list and circulate it to 200 people.

The letter states that the £10 can only be sent in the form of cash.

The same letter was reported to be doing the rounds in Swindon last October and has now found its way into Chippenham.

Sue Wilkins, of Wiltshire Trading Standards, said the best place for the letters was in the bin.

"They are a complete con and they will only continue to survive if people continue to fall for them," she said.

Mrs Wilkins said the young were particularly vulnerable to such scams because they were enticed by the get rich quick angle.

"Any chain letters or pyramid letters are all the same. They are a con. They have been around for years and it is almost impossible to find out where they originally come from," she said.

The details of the David Rhodes letter change slightly each time it re-surfaces but the scam is still the same. The most recent version claims that the letter writer, Mr Rhodes, lost his job in 1997 and he has now earned more than £500,000 from the chain letter.

And not only are the letters trying to con people out of £10 they are now making the recipients pay the postage.

Reporter Lily Canter was furious when she ended up paying 99p for a con letter she did not want.

She said: "I got a card from Royal Mail saying there was postage to pay on a letter. I just thought it was a heavy letter from a friend and they had not put enough stamps on it. I had to pay 19p for the stamp and then an 80p handling fee to Royal Mail.

"When I opened it, I realised it was a con letter straight away."

She added: "People should be cautious when they go to pick up a letter when the postage hasn't been paid. They should check the handwriting first and question it if they don't know what it is, before they hand over any money."