THERE'S an unseen workforce, toiling for long hours at humdrum tasks in the desperate bid for extra cash to ease the grind of poverty. They are the country's home-workers -- frequently poorly paid and often exploited in what is a grey area of the employment market and often part of the black economy.

How harsh it is, then, that they often fall victim to shark operators who promise them an income, charge them fees to participate and then cheat them of their earnings.

Trading standards officials, who have uncovered a rash of suspect schemes in Lancashire, are warning potential victims to beware.

But as the law stands, there is little more they can do.

Is it not time, then, for the law to be tightened up so there is no scope for the sharks to prowl like this in the lowest and poorest depths of the labour market?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.