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Several people in Chesterfield reported receiving a call out of the blue from someone claiming to be a police officer, who said they were contacting them about fraudulent activity on their accounts.

Scams like these rely on the victim cooperating by giving details, bank cards or cash to the ‘officer’ or a courier.

Fortunately, in each of these cases details were not provided, and the victim called the police before providing any details or attending the meeting.

A number of scam calls involving criminals pretending to be police officers have been reported by Chesterfield residents.

PC Louise Rodger, a Derbyshire Police fraud protect officer, said: “Please share this message with your friends and family members, especially older or vulnerable relatives.

“Talk to them about our crime prevention advice – Stop! Think! Tell! By remembering to do this, they can protect themselves against scams.”

The force issued the following advice for people to help them avoid becoming a victim of a police impersonation scam:

Police officers will never call you out of the blue and request cash or personal information. They’ll never ask you to transfer money to another account, hand over cash or bank cards to a courier, or a pay a fine or fee over the phone. If someone asks you to do this, it's a scam.

If an officer contacts you in person, they will show you their warrant card. This is proof of their identify and authority.

If someone has called you and you are unsure if they are a genuine police officer, you can hang up and call police on 101 to check their identity.

It’s recommended you wait at least five minutes and make sure you can hear a dialling tone before you call, as there have been cases of fraudsters keeping the line open after a victim has hung up.

You can find further information on how to check an officer's identify here.

READ THIS: Man arrested by armed police after threatening staff with knife during robbery at Derbyshire Sainsbury’s store

If you think you've been approached or contacted by a scammer, you can report it by contacting the police using one of the methods below:

Facebook – send a private message to /DerbyshireConstabulary

Twitter – direct message the force’s contact centre on @DerPolContact

Website – complete the online contact form

Phone – call 101

You can also anonymously contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Contact Action Fraud, the national reporting centre, by calling 0300 123 2040 or visiting their website here.

Chesterfield residents urged to stay vigilant after multiple reports of scammers posing as police officers