A warning has gone out over “cold callers” claiming to be from Cornwall Council and asking for bank details.

An elderly woman received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the council, who said he was contacting residents to issue rebates to people who had overpaid council tax.

The lady gave all her bank details to the caller, before realising it didn’t seem right and spoke to her son. He contacted her bank and also reported the incident to the council.

Gary Walton, from Cornwall Council’s corporate fraud team, said: “The council will not ask for bank details over the phone.

“It is never safe to deal with any cold callers, whether at the front door or over the phone, no matter how convincing they seem. Never give out your bank details or any other personal information.

“We also advised this gentleman to report the incident to the police.”

Anyone who receives a suspicious cold call asking for bank details or other personal information is advised to contact the police on 101 or Cornwall Trading Standards on 0300 1234 191.

Julia Groves, from Cornwall Council Trading Standards, said there were call blocking devices on the market help protect a person from receiving these types of unwanted calls, two of which have been tried and tested by the Trading Standards Institute.

These are CPR Call Blocker (http://www.cprcallblocker.com/ 0800 040 8010) and TrueCall Ltd (http://www.truecall.co.uk/home.aspx / 0800 033 6339)