Herts Police are warning Hitchin residents about a telephone swindle involving fraudsters claiming to be calling from a bank.

Officers say they have been alerted by their fraud experts that older residents are being targeted by a new variation of the telephone scam where the caller claims to be the police or your bank.

Previously, this scam involved people calling you and claiming to be from the police or from your bank. 

They would say that there is a problem related to your bank and that you need to withdraw your money from your bank account and give it to a courier who will come to your house to collect it. Sometimes, people were asked to give their bank card to a courier.

In the new variation, the people claiming to be the police or your bank will ask you to withdraw your money and post it to them at an address that they give you during the phone call.

People living independently and people living in care homes have been targeted by this fraud.

Herts Police have issued the following advice - please remember:

The police or your bank would never call you to ask you to withdraw money from your account.

You would never be asked by police or your bank to give your money to a courier or to send money in the post.

You would never be asked by police or your bank to give your bank card to a courier or to send it in the post.