AN ELDERLY couple were conned out of £85,000 after they fell foul to telephone fraudsters who posed as bank employees.

The Pershore couple, who are in their 70s, handed over the money via what they thought was telephone banking on Monday, August 18, after a man called telling them a cheque for the value of £17,000 had been tendered from their account and advised they call their bank straight away.

When the victims called what they believed to be their bank, the call went straight back to the offender as he had not hung up.

The suspect then posed as a member of the bank’s fraud department and advised the victim to transfer funds from several other accounts as his account had been compromised.

In total £85,000 was fraudulently transferred.

Police were able to secure some of the transferred funds, but have warned all individuals to be wary of attempts to defraud them in this manner.

The following advice has been issued:

- Banks and police officers will never ask for account details or PINs over the phone, and would not come round to the house to collect your cards or property.

- If you do get such a call, hang up immediately and dial 999 using another phone.

- If you have already been taken in by this scam, or know someone who has contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111 or crimestoppers-uk.org

Any incidents can be also reported to Action Fraud on 0300 1232040.

For more information, visit actionfraud.police.uk. Anyone with information about suspicious activity in the local area or any suspicious phone calls, should report it to West Mercia Police by calling the non-emergency number 101.

If you see any suspicious activity in your local area report it to police.