Norfolk County Council is warning people to be aware of cold callers pretending to represent trading standards who are using 'gift card scams' involving the purchasing of fake vouchers.

This follows an incident in South Norfolk where a resident received a call which claimed to be from Trading Standards, stating they were going to attend the resident's property with a cheque for £5,000 due to an overpayment at the bank.

The cold caller then said that the resident had to purchase a £100 iTunes voucher in order to receive the cheque and that they would then call back the following day to collect the code from the voucher.

The council has said that trading standards do not call residents in connection with refunds for banking charges, fees or overpayments and will never require residents to purchase gift cards.

Norfolk residents have been warned not to give away any personal information or financial details.