SCAMMERS pretending to be police officers in Taunton have fleeced "large amounts of money" out of a number of elderly people in Taunton "over the last few days".

Police are urging members of the public to be aware of the "quick rise in fraudulent crimes" reported to them in the county town.

The con involves the victim being persuaded to withdraw cash from their bank account and hand it over to a bogus police officer.

A spokesperson for the Taunton Neighbourhood Policing said: "We are asking the public to be aware of the quick rise in fraudulent crimes reported to us in Taunton over the last few days.

"The reports are all very similar, whereby elderly people have been contacted over the phone by someone pretending to be from the police and asking them to withdraw a large quantity of cash from their banks.

"The victims are then attending the banks, withdrawing large amounts of money and then when they have returned home, the offenders have attended their address within 30 minutes and collected the money."

The spokesperson is asking people with elderly relatives, friends of neighbours to make sure they are aware of the scam.

They added: "We as the police would never ask you to withdraw any money.

"Our investigation continues in relation to the above reports."