Elderly residents are being warned not to fall foul of fraudsters using courier firms to defraud victims of their life savings.

Today the Met police are carrying out activities to highlight crime prevention measures against the scam, which has claimed 2,229 mostly elderly victims across London in two years.

SNTs across Croydon have been visiting community groups and residents - particularly elderly members of the community - to speak to them about the scam to help prevent them become victims..

The fraud works by the suspect phoning the victim and claiming to be someone from an authority, usually the police, bank or Serious Fraud Office.

They tell them their bank account has been compromised and their card must be collected. The suspect instructs the victim to hang up and call the police/bank/Serious Fraud Office on a genuine number to check they are who they say they are.

The victim dials the new number but the fraudster does not disconnect so, unknown to the victim, they are still speaking to the suspect or a co-conspirator.

The fraudster then convinces the victim to reveal their PIN, usually by typing it in on their keypad.

The suspect is able to tell which keys have been pressed and then sends a courier or taxi driver to the victim's house to collect their bank card, which the suspect has instructed them to put into an envelope.

The card is delivered to a co-conspirator and is used, with the PIN, to empty the victim's bank account.

The MPS lead on organised crime, Commander Steve Rodhouse, said: "Courier fraudsters put a huge amount of time and effort into being convincing because for them the pay-off is immense. This is a massive part of what makes them so successful.

"We want people to question even truly genuine sounding calls and, most importantly, remember police and banks will never ask for your PIN or bank card, so you should never give these away."