AS a struggling actor I receive from time to time letters from companies offering to "make me a star". The letters are often addressed to "Dear budding actor" or some such patronising title. I have become concerned in recent weeks about the number of companies asking for upfront fees. While in fact they are quite legally able to do this, I am writing to warn others who may be tempted to fill in the form and send a cheque. Before doing this follow these guide lines:

1 Never send money to a company that has no telephone number on their letter head, and no listing with directory enquires.

2 Be cautious of companies whose only address is a PO box number

3 If they have a telephone number, call them first for more information about exactly what they do. Be wary of numbers that are constantly answered by a machine

4 If the company that has written to you breaks all these guidelines, then my advice is to throw the letter in the waste bin.

If you think the fee is only a small amount to pay, just stop to consider the sums of money actually involved. Recently I received a letter from a company, no phone number, PO box address. They asked for just £12 but they also said they were holding audition in 36 locations. Say 200 people paid the fee for each of the venues (and that's not many if you consider 1,000s applied for the open auditions for Hollyoaks) then the total sum received by the company would be £84,000. And that's for doing nothing, nice work if you can get it!

John Martin-Stevens, Springfield Lane, Broadway, via email.