A WARNING has been issued about vishing scams in Renfrewshire as part of a financial harm awareness campaign.

Vishing is a form of fraud in which criminals call their victims and convince them to provide personal information so they can access their bank accounts.

This is often achieved by making the victim, who is usually an older or vulnerable person, believe they need to take urgent action to protect their money or personal information.

Chief Inspector Rebecca Gregson, safer communities lead in Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, said: “Banks, companies and government departments will not cold call you like this, so be suspicious of the call from the outset.

“Remain calm, listen to what they are saying and hang up the call if you suspect it to be a scam.

“If you do not recognise the telephone number, do not answer your landline or mobile telephone and let it divert to answer machine.”

Typical vishing scams involve scammers pretending their victims are about to lose money from their bank account, have failed to make a payment or are due a windfall of money through a refund, free grant or lottery win.