A MAN in his 80s handed over £15,000 to phone scammers posing as police, prompting a warning from officers.

The victim, in the Salisbury area, was called over the course of three days on January 20, 21 and 24, and asked to withdraw the large sum of money to assist an investigation in relation to his bank account.

A man then attended his home address to collect the cash.

Wiltshire Police is now investigating and would like to hear from anyone who may have seen a suspicious vehicle in the Winterbourne Gunner area on the evenings of these dates.

Anyone with information should call 101 and quote crime reference number 54230009641.

A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said: “Courier fraud occurs when a fraudster contacts victims by telephone purporting to be a police officer or bank official.

“To substantiate this claim, the caller might be able to confirm some easily obtainable basic details about the victim such as their full name and address.

“The caller may also offer a telephone number for the victim to telephone or ask the victim to call the number on the back of their bank card to check that they are genuine.

“In these circumstances, either the number offered will not be genuine or, where a genuine number is suggested, the fraudster will stay on the line and pass the victim to a different individual.

“On this occasion, the fraudster claimed to be an officer from the Metropolitan Police and told the man his card had been compromised. He told the man to withdraw money to help with the investigation.

“These individuals are very convincing and have various different tactics to gain your trust.”

For advice on how to identify and prevent fraud, visit www.actionfraud.police.uk.