PEOPLE are warned to be vigilant after a Runcorn woman received a call from a man claiming to be a private detective.

Halton Council says the caller told the her he had retrieved £5,000 of money she had lost in a previous scam.

The lady had been duped by a rogue doorstep scam and had lost £6,000, so she thought he was genuine.

Trading Standards warn that the caller might have been part of the gang who scammed her in the past.

The man said that he would give her a bankers draft for the £5,000 but she needed to pay him £3,000 in cash.

He said he would ring her the following day to make sure she’d got the cash and then he would call with the bankers draft.

When she went to her bank to withdraw the money they asked her what the money was for.

When she told them, they alerted the police who spoke to the lady and she agreed not to withdraw the money.

Later that day the lady received a phone call from the man claiming to be a private detective. He said he had waited outside her house for her.

She told him that the police had said it was a scam.

He became annoyed with her, saying that he’d worked hard to recover the money and he was going to call the police to complain about her.

Halton Council's Trading Standards officers are warning people to be vigilant.

Halton Cllr Dave Cargill, board member for Trading Standards, said: "If you receive a call that you have not asked for from anybody, make sure that you know who they are before you give any information about yourself or agree to part with any money – even if they seem to know things about you.

"Check out who the caller is by asking for the name, company name, address and telephone number.

“Check these details online to see if there’s any information to suggest the caller is bogus.”

He said if the caller says they are ringing from a well-known business or organisation, call them to check.

But wait 10 minutes before doing this to make sure your phone has been disconnected from the line that called you.

If you or somebody you know has been affected by scams call specialist officers on 0151 511 8785 or 0151 511 8775.

They are already working with people in Halton who have lost thousands of pounds to scams