A SHOP has been scammed out of cases of expensive champagne and drinks by fraudsters using fake payment cards.

Neighbourhood police officers in Ascot have warned businesses of the scam which happened on July 19 locally.

The unnamed convenience store was targeted when fraudsters told staff they were from a company holding a large event in the area.

Thames Valley Police said the scammer told the shop the event' wine supplier had let them down last-minute so they needed to order a large amount of drinks quickly.

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Drinks included 'numerous cases of high-end champagne' costing hundreds of pounds per bottle, according to officers.

As the shop owners had them in stock, he agreed and asked for payment. The card was declined.

Officers said the scammer told the shop owners it happened often and he had a 'personal override authorisation code from his company' which would work when purchasing large amounts.

He tapped in the code and the transaction went through and it was agreed a taxi would collect the wines and drinks later.

Thames Valley Police said the man said the whole scenario was repeated over the next two days, each time the order value increasing dramatically.

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Each time the card was declined but overridden to allow the charges to go through - although different cards were used each day.

On July 22, the card merchant contacted the victim to say it was suspending the payments as they were believed to be fraudulent. This was due to all cards being issued by all different foreign financial organisations.

The merchant is now holding the transactions to investigate and the victim has suffered the loss of 'a very large amount of money', according to police.

It added that if proved to be fraud the possible outcome could be that the victims will not be reimbursed.