POLICE are warning people in Craven to be on their guard against fraudsters pretending to be police officers.

Officers say they are seeing a lot of residents receiving calls from scammers claiming to be police, with some victims losing substantial amounts of money.

The usually male fraudsters are very convincing, give a false name and convince their victims to withdraw money 'for safe-keeping'.

The fraudsters tell their unsuspecting victims they have arrested someone who has attempted to buy a high value item, such as a television, using the person's bank card.

They will often give a bogus reference number, to make it seem more authentic, and will tell the person to ring 999 immediately.

A police spokesperson said: "The victim follows this instruction not knowing that the scammers silently stay on the line, therefore the victim, who thinks they’ve rung the police is in fact still talking to the scammers.

"The victim is either instructed to attend their bank to withdraw money which will then be collected for safekeeping, in order to protect them, or will be asked to give bank details on a 'secure line'.

"The victim is further told that if they are challenged when withdrawing the money they must lie and use a plausible excuse, such as building work.

"The victims will also be told to keep it a secret, to not discuss it with anyone."

Police say the fraudsters are usually male and use a variety of names, with the most common, DCI Nelson; PC or DC Mark Andrews, or Sgt White or Sgt Wickes.

The spokesperson said people needed to remember that neither the police or banks would ever contact people and ask for them to move or transfer money.

"If you receive a call of this nature, hang up immediately, do not engage with the caller, make sure the telephone line is clear - that is the scammer is no longer on the line, and call 101.

"This fraud is resulting in some huge losses for victims and the more residents are aware of this type of fraud the better protected they are."