Phone scams which saw three victims lose more than £50,000 on a single day have sparked a stark warning from the police.

A Wheathampstead man in his late 70s was among 11 people who were contacted by scammers yesterday (Wednesday) claiming to be police officers investigating fraudulent activity on bank accounts.

The man, however, became suspicious and contacted the police without handing any personal information over.

But others across the county were not so lucky.

On Tuesday, an elderly couple were contacted by a person claiming to be from their bank and that one of their bank cards had been used fraudulently.

In order to assist with the investigation, the fraudster claimed, the couple would need to withdraw as much money as possible from their account and hand it over to a courier.

A man came later and collected the money.

One fraudster posing as a police officer contacted another elderly couple and said police had arrested a person who had been using the couple’s cards fraudulently.

The couple were told that to keep their money safe, they would need to withdraw as much as possible and hand it over. A courier later collected the couple’s cash.

Herts Police have warned locals to be aware of such scammers.

Fraudsters will use a number of tactics to try and convince people that they are genuinely investigating fraudulent activity and that they need people’s bank cards and money as part of an investigation, including offering reference numbers and contact names.

But, the police and banks will never ask for you bank account details or PIN number over the phone.

Also, they will never ask you to withdraw money and send it to them, or to send your bank cards.

For more information about phone scams, visit herts.police.uk/phonescams