A FARNHAM woman is warning others after criminals tried to scam her out of money.

Last Thursday, Pauline McLynn answered the phone to a man purporting to be from Hammersmith Serious Fraud Office, who said there had been ‘an incident’ involving her nephew David McLynn.

“I told him I didn’t have a nephew called David,” Pauline told The Herald.

“He said criminals were using our name and that he arrested a young man who had cloned credit cards belonging to me and my husband. He had our address and phone number and said he had a card with my husband’s name on it, so I asked him to read out the number. He said there was no number on it but that I should ring 999 immediately about it.

“I rang Surrey Police from my mobile and they said the ‘Hammersmith Serious Fraud Office’ was a scam well known to them and that people were being taken in by it.”

Mrs McLynn was suspicious when the man named a non-existent nephew and these suspicions grew when he wanted her to ring 999 immediately.

This is a trick used regularly by scammers who stay on the line after the victim has rung off, meaning they remain connected ready to pretend to be the intended recipient of the next call.

Mrs McLynn said she wanted to warn others about the scam. “I heard of one lady who had money stolen because she was called by someone saying they were from her bank and that, following fraudulent activity, she should move her money into a particular account. I think older people are especially vulnerable to this sort of scam.”

A spokesperson for Surrey Police said: “With smart devices and technology becoming more widely used, fraudsters are using it as an opportunity to scam innocent people.

“Remember that police, banks, and other legitimate organisations will never work this way. You will never be contacted out of the blue and be asked to share screens or access to a phone or computer, or to provide passwords.

“They will never ask you to transfer money to a `safe` account, or to post or send a person to collect cash, cards, pins, foreign currencies, or other high value goods, such as jewellery.

“Never give out financial information over the phone and if you think you have been contacted by a scammer pretending to be from a police force or the bank , where possible use a different phone or wait for a minimum of three minutes after you think the call has been terminated and call the official phone number for your local police force and confirm.”

Anyone worried that they have been the victim or potential victim of a scam should call 101, Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040 or, if in immediate danger, 999.