ELDERLY and vulnerable people are being urged to be on their guard after a conman pretending to be a police officer stole thousands of pounds from a woman in her 70s.

Police believe the crime in Poole is linked to an ongoing money scam in Dorset and other parts of the country in which elderly victims are targeted with fraudulent phone calls. It is likely the suspects are coming into Dorset from other areas, said Dorset Police.

The victim in the latest case was told by a man on the phone, purporting to be a London police officer, fraudulent transactions had been made on her bank account. She was instructed by the man to go to her bank, withdraw a substantial amount of money from her account and return home to wait for a plain-clothed police officer to collect it so it could be reimbursed into her bank account.

The woman handed over the money when a man arrived.

Detective Constable Danni Knight, of Bournemouth CID, said: “These are callous offe-nders targeting the most vulnerable members of our community. I would like to stress that the police, no matter which force, would never ask anyone to hand over cash or cards to a courier or anyone else.”