By David LennardAN elderly woman has had a “substantial” sum of money stolen after being targeted by bogus callers claiming to be care workers.Two men and a woman called at the elderly woman's home in Wrentham, near Southwold, between 9pm and 10.

By David Lennard

AN elderly woman has had a “substantial” sum of money stolen after being targeted by bogus callers claiming to be care workers.

Two men and a woman called at the elderly woman's home in Wrentham, near Southwold, between 9pm and 10.30pm on Monday.

They tricked their way into the woman's home after claiming to be carers, but after they left the woman discovered her purse, containing a substantial amount of cash, had been stolen.

The incident came just days after a new scheme to beat bogus callers was launched in north Suffolk.

The Nominated Neighbour initiative is being tested for three months in Bungay and, if it proves successful, will be extended to other parts of the area, including Wrentham.

Under the scheme, an elderly or vulnerable person can nominate a nearby resident who can deal with doorstep callers and police hope this will reduce the number of distraction burglaries and bogus caller incidents.

The scheme allows vulnerable residents to identify a trusted neighbour, relative or friend, who lives nearby to deal with any unexpected or unknown callers.

A vulnerable person is issued with a card that is secured to the inside of their front door in a self-adhesive plastic folder.

When an unsolicited caller knocks on the door they can be shown the card or it can be passed to them through the letterbox or the gap in a chained door.

There is no need for any conversation to take place and the caller should follow the instructions on the card to contact the nominated neighbour.

Suffolk police also renewed their call for residents to secure their properties and not to let any unknown callers in without proper identification.

david.lennard@eadt.co.uk