Officers are reminding residents to be aware of a recent bogus police scam after the actions of a vigilant taxi driver foiled an attempt to defraud a 94-year-old woman of £2,500.

The woman from Sudbury was called on Tuesday by a man who purported to be a detective constable from Hammersmith in London.

He informed the victim that one of her bank accounts had been cleared out and another had money removed from it. She was told to take all the remaining money out of the account and send it in a taxi to Hammersmith Police Station.

The victim made an appointment with her bank and £2,500 was withdrawn and put into a taxi.

The taxi driver had concerns over the package and decided to take it to Sudbury Police Station and report it to officers, who confirmed it was a scam. The money was returned to the victim and officers explained what had happened.

Police have been in contact with taxi firms to make them aware of this scam and are grateful for the actions of this driver.

On Monday an 84-year-old man from Newmarket contacted police after receiving a similar call from a man purporting to be from the fraud scam.

The caller claimed he was investigating suspicious activity on the victim’s account and advised him to go to his bank at 2pm the next day and withdraw £500, which could then be given to the suspect.

The victim was suspicious of the caller and told him he could only go to the bank at 10am, at which point the caller hung up the phone.

A police spokesman said: “Officers are urging residents to be extremely careful when dealing with any unknown callers and to never give out personal information or to hand over cards or money in these circumstances.

“In carrying out scams such as this, it is thought that the offenders leave the telephone line open, so when the victims believe they have hung up to make another call to either the police or their bank, they are in fact still on the line to the criminals who made the original call.”

Anyone with information about these crimes, or any similar incidents, is asked to contact Suffolk police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Officers are advising residents that banks and police will never ask for your PIN number, bank card or bank account details over the phone.