The Lancashire Police have released a statement via Facebook warning residents of Lytham St Anne’s of a potential scam coming to the area, in which a scam caller pretends to be a police officer.

It happened last Friday (September 4th), when a female caller, purporting to be a police officer, called the victim’s number and claimed she owed tax money. She was then threatened with arrest if she did not pay it.

When the victim questioned the caller about this and asked for a contact telephone number for the police, they were given an old legitimate police number. The offender then called back from that number to make it appear genuine, but it had been spoofed meaning it looked like they were calling from the real number.

REMEMBER: A police officer or anyone from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) or Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) who deal with taxes, will never contact you and ask for money to be transferred over the phone in that way.