A great-grandmother is warning people to be on their guard after receiving a suspicious phone call believed to be from scammers.

The 88-year-old took a call from a man claiming to be a detective sergeant at Luton Police Station.

He told her officers had taken a woman into custody called Sarah, who shared the same surname as the pensioner – who lives in a social housing association flat in Bolton.

The caller knew the woman’s name, date of birth and address although he gave other information that was incorrect, such as the woman being housebound and needing a carer.

He said Sarah had been found with £700 in cash on her, and she had told officers the money had been given to her by the woman in Bolton.

The conversation continued and the man gave a badge number and a crime reference number before saying he was transferring the call to Bolton police.

The grandmother-of-17 was put through to another man, who said he was a police constable in Bolton.

He advised the woman to contact her bank in case Sarah had taken the £700 from her account without her knowledge.

The man told her she could call the number on the back of her bank card without hanging up the handset.

A woman then came on the line who said she was from the bank and asked for details about the woman’s accounts before saying she had put blocks on them.

It was only when the mother-of-six spoke to a friend later that evening, she realised she could have been the target of fraudsters.

She said: “I really believed that the call was genuine because they knew my name and some information, and it sounded real when they gave me what they said was a crime reference number.

“I really thought that I was speaking to Bolton police.

“I’ve spoken to my bank and they’ve said that everything is fine, they haven’t taken any money which is a huge relief.

“I believe it was scammers pretending to police, saying they had someone in custody when they didn’t. I think they were trying to get more information and to possibly access my flat.

“It doesn’t bear thinking about and I really want to warn others.”

The customer service department at the woman’s bank advised her to contact Action Fraud to report the call.

The former mill worker added: “My advice to anyone who gets a call like this would be to just put the phone down.”