POLICE this week warned residents in West Devon to be on their guard, after an organised scamming group managed to con a local resident out of almost £750.

The scam began in March with a telephone call to the resident in Tavistock, whereby a man offered a home visit to discuss payment entitlement, following Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) on a historic bank loan.

A correspondence letter followed, stating that 25% of the award plus VAT would be their fee and a home visit would be organised.

PC Cathy Veale, Tavistock neighbourhood beat manager, said: 'Some two months later the man was informed by telephone he would be entitled to an award of £2,998. He was told the award in the form of a cheque would be hand delivered to his home address by a rep.

 'He was asked to pay his fee by way of purchasing £750 worth of UCASH vouchers through a Pay Point, then he would be contacted again by telephone, requesting the serial numbers of the vouchers.'

PC Veale said the vouchers were purchased and the serial numbers were passed over the telephone. The value of the vouchers were redeemed quickly after by the scammers.

The man was then informed that he would be awarded a greater amount and would need to purchase a further £1,000 in vouchers and pass the serial numbers before the award cheque was released.

PC Veale said: 'Luckily, the victim of this scam realised something was wrong and did not purchase the further £1,000 and the police were informed.

'The suspects using the telephone all had Asian accents and used the name of PPI Claimline.

'The male who attended the appointment as a representative of the company was a white male aged between 40 and 50 years, 5 foot 10 inches tall, short brown hair and of smart/casual appearance.'

Anyone who has information which would assist police in their enquiries should call the Action Fraud Report number on 0300 1232040 using the crime reference number JT/12/535 or JT/12/595.