A FRAUDSTER pretending to be a police officer scammed an elderly couple of their life savings.

Police are warning residents to "put the phone down" if they receive a call" from their bank and recognise it's suspicious following the recent scam.

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On the morning of August 19, an elderly couple received a call from their "bank".

The caller said a large amount of cash had been withdrawn from their account, but fortunately, they had been able to trace and recover most of it. Some remained outstanding.

The elderly victim is not certain how the conversation changed, but a panicked voice saw a man purporting to be a police officer with the Fraud Squad appeared on the call.

He explained that they had an investigation ongoing at that bank branch and believed a member of staff there was passing counterfeit notes and money laundering, using customer’s accounts.

He then added that they had a man in custody, using their name and address.

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The fraudster then asked the elderly couple to visit their bank and withdraw their savings and to not tell anyone at the branch or local police they were part of a police investigation.

Thames Valley Police said: "They were not to touch the notes, but ask for them to be placed in an envelope. The 'police' would be fingerprinting them to find the offender. He then explained the possibility that the bank may use the ‘Banking Protocol’, as it would be an unusual withdrawal. If they were asked why they were withdrawing such a large amount, they were to say it was for some house renovations and building work."

Unfortunately, the elderly couple said what the fraudster told them to and they were allowed to withdraw their savings. When they got home the man called them again and asked them read out some of the serial numbers from the notes, but they had to put gloves on before touching them.

They read out several and the man said they were the fake notes he was interested in. He said the courier would be with them shortly and to show it was genuine, gave them a password. The courier arrived, gave the password - and they handed over the cash.

The man on the phone said, he would be sending real notes back and in addition, they may receive an additional £1,000 reward, for helping the police.

Police said it is "unlikely the victims will be reimbursed."