Con-artists pretending to be police officers are defrauding elderly people out of thousands of pounds by arranging taxis to take them to banks, Norfolk Constabulary has revealed.

Eastern Daily Press: Detective Inspector Chris Burgess, of Norwich CID.Picture by SIMON FINLAY.Detective Inspector Chris Burgess, of Norwich CID.Picture by SIMON FINLAY.

The force has said in a number of cases criminals are calling pensioners claiming to be from the police and suggesting a family member is helping with enquiries.

They organise a taxi to take the victims to a bank or an exchange bureau to withdraw the money and then someone collects the cash from them.

And people in the region are being warned to remain vigilant after a similar case this week involving a 92-year-old woman who was duped into handing over gold and jewellery worth tens of thousands of pounds.

The woman, from Swainsthorpe, was called on Wednesday by a man claiming to be a 'Detective Sergeant John Carod'.

He originally asked the victim to withdraw money but when she refused he asked her to put together all her gold items and jewellery and he would arrange for them to be collected. At midnight a man came to the victim's door and took her items.

Investigating officer, detective inspector Chris Burgess, of Norwich CID, said the crimes are being committed across borders and everyone needs to be aware of suspicious behaviour.

'If you work at a taxi company and are getting calls to take elderly people they have not seen before to banks let us know,' he said. 'If you work in a bank or an exchange bureau and see an elderly person taking out a large some of money and you think something is wrong call us.

'We would rather turn up and find no crime has been committed then see a considerable loss for an elderly person.'

There have been two similar incidents in the county in the last month including one in Wymondham last week which saw a 72-year-old woman withdraw 11,000 euro, which is about £9,700, and hand it over to a cold caller pretending to be a police officer.

Det Insp Burgess said cold callers have always been an issue but this is on a different level.

'Cold calling has always been a thing but people would get asked for card details and have a couple of hundred pounds taken from their accounts, these are considerable sums of money and items worth thousands,' he added.

Anyone with concerns about such calls should contact police on 101 or 999 if a crime is in progress.