INVESTORS could be hit by a repeat of the £17 million Titan 'scam' which hammered scores of Lancashire people in the pocket, a trading standards boss has predicted.

The county's chief trading standards officer Jim Potts has slammed new laws introduced in the wake of Titan in a bid to block pyramid selling schemes.

And he has said the regulations could lead to more problems and a repeat of the scheme which rocked scores of people in the county.

Titan offered people huge cash returns for recruiting members willing to pay thousands of pounds to join the scheme. But the new rules have been blasted as mere tinkering by Mr Potts, who attacked the lack of government action.

Latest estimates claim the notorious Titan scheme attracted £17 million-worth of investment before it was declared an illegal lottery and bosses were banned from recruiting new members. Lancashire trading standards believe money-making schemes are still in operation and revealed they had more than 500 complaints in the last year.

The recently-introduced Trading Schemes Regulations mean any pyramid-style package has to carry a 'wealth warning.'

Warnings about being misled with false promises of making high earnings now have to be included on any advertising or leaflets. But the decision not to introduce stiffer regulations has incensed Lancashire trading standards.

Mr Potts, in a report to the county council's fire service and public protection committee, said: "It is unfortunate that an opportunity to simplify and clarify much-needed controls has been missed.

"As a consequence, we anticipate continuing problems with these schemes and no likely reduction in complaints from consumers, who have been misled into joining bogus investment schemes."

He added: "Ineffective legislation has not been repealed and the additional regulation should prove easy to evade by the more resourceful scheme promoters.

"These new requirements appear to be mere tinkering with the existing regulations."

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