A CHAIN letter which promises a £40,000 cash bonanza is nothing but a scam, Wychavon people are being warned.

Anyone receiving the letter, purporting to come from a David Rhodes in Norfolk, should just throw it away, Trading Standards chiefs have warned.

The 'David Rhodes' letter, which started in America in the 1980s, is so infamous it has even spawned a number of websites across the Atlantic, urging people not to be taken in.

One claims to be that of the real David Rhodes who says that as "a condition of my parole I have to put up this site to serve as a warning to others".

The latest letter was sent to Pershore man David Bryden from an address in Stourport-on-Severn.

A spokeswoman for Worcestershire Trading Standards said anyone who received such a letter should file it - straight in the bin.

"It's a scam and you should chuck it away," she said. "If anyone is really concerned they can contact us and come and talk to us about it."

The badly-spelt letter claims its author has so far cleared £582,000 and his accountant has predicted he will be a millionaire within six months.

People are told they should send £10 to the name at the top of a list, add themselves to the bottom, and mail on the four-page letter to at least 200 other addresses.

The cost of 200 envelopes, stamps, and 800 photocopies could top £100, but the persuasive letter claims if only two percent of those sent letters reply, you could be £40,000 richer.

"We all know pyramid selling can make millions for those few at the top but inevitably there are large numbers at the bottom who lose their investment," said Mr Bryden, of Pensham.

"This sort of chain letter presumes there are an infinite number of people willing to take part in the scam for an infinite time - but the fact is there are only a limited number of people whose greed to get something for nothing overrides their knowledge of basic mathematics."