AN elderly woman from Welford was conned into handing over £5,000 by fraudsters.

The 80-year-old victim received a call at noon on Tuesday, May 10 from a man claiming to be police officer from London who said that her bank accounts had been compromised and suggested she move her money into another account.

She withdrew the money and handed it over to a "courier" on Wednesday, May 11.

Inspector Daf Goddard said: "Courier fraud offences are targeted at vulnerable people and can be particularly distressing.

"We would urge people to be suspicious of any call purporting to be from the police where requests are made to withdraw or transfer money or to hand over bank cards and PINs.

"Police would never request you to do this."

Police are urging residents to hang up on scammers and dial 1471, taking down the number and reporting it to the police via 101.

There has been four similar scams reported to south Warwickshire police recently.