TRADING standards officers are calling for tighter controls on money-making schemes after receiving reports of copycat versions of the Titan scam which brought 200 complaints in the county.

Despite the Court of Appeal's decision which declared the get-rich-quick scheme illegal, there is still nothing to stop the setting up of similar operations.

Lancashire Trading Standards played a key role in exposing Titan and helped the Department of Trade and Industry investigate the scheme.

Titan was first exposed last February and later branded a scam in Parliament.

Trading standards officers warned that similar schemes could emerge and the signs are that the first copycats are already starting to appear across the country.

Lancashire's chief trading officer Jim Potts is now planning to make a personal plea to the DTI. Mr Potts will be calling for direct controls over similar schemes rather than relying on "vague provisions" under the Lotteries and Amusement Act.

The county's trading standards department was involved with Titan from the outset because the German-based company concentrated its activities in Lancashire.

Officers received more than 200 complaints and inquiries from people who had each been asked to pay in £2,500 or £3,000 to Titan.

The Court of Appeal eventually ruled that the scheme was an illegal lottery and suspended any further recruitment or payments from the public.

Lord Woolf, the High Court judge who ruled against the appeal, has also warned of the dangers of copy-cat schemes appearing.

He has called for the liquidators to be brought in to wind up the affairs of Titan and its successor Titan LLC in this country.

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