Elderly and vulnerable people across Sutton are receiving advice from Safer Neighbourhoods Teams about a scam involving residents being telephoned out-of-the blue and tricked out of their PIN and bank card.

The fraud starts with a phone call to the victim from a bank, police or Serious Fraud Office.

The tricksters explain there is a problem with their bank account and the account has been compromised.

To help persuade victims that the call is genuine, they may ask the victims to hang up and call the relevant authority - the bank, police or Serious Fraud Office - on a genuine number.

But unknown to the victim, the caller keeps the line open, so when the victim calls, it’s the fraudster who receives the call.

The tricksters convince victims to reveal their PIN usually by asking them to type it into the telephone keypad. They also say that their bank card must be collected.

The tricksters arrange for a courier, such as a cab, to pick up the bank card, which is delivered to the suspect so it can be used to withdraw cash from the victim’s bank account.

Out of the 32 London Boroughs, Sutton has been one of the least impacted with 26 victims since January 2011.

To combat the scam SNTs have carried out 31 visits to elderly people at sheltered accommodation, spoken with the elderly at community events, distributed leaflets at libraries, shopping centres, health centres and churches.

They have also visited Sutton Town Centre to display posters and distributed 3,000 leaflets across the borough.

Sutton’s Chief Inspector Partnership Nick Collins said: “We are committed to carrying on our activities to reach as many people as possible to raise awareness of this scam and to provide crime prevention advice to stop them becoming victims.”