A bogus council worker has been calling Croydon residents in an attempt to scam them out of hundreds of pounds.

Pensioner Jacqueline Deleon, 61, raised the alarm after she was called on March 25 by someone claiming to be a council employee, saying she had overpaid £742 on her council tax .

She said: “I had a call from someone claiming to be from the council. He said I had a £742 council tax rebate because I was in the wrong banding.

“He said his name was Sean Parker. He sounded African.”

Mrs Deleon has no idea where the conman got her telephone number from as she is ex-directory.

Even more worryingly, he read out the first four numbers of her bank card, asking her to tell him what the rest of the numbers are.

The scam artist was unaware Mrs Deleon had been at the council earlier that morning sorting out her council tax.

She said: “I became suspicious about half way through the conversation when he said he needed the rest of my card numbers.

"He read out the first four numbers of my card and asked me to read out the rest. He said he could not do it because he did not want the people sitting next to him to hear.”

She sensibly asked him for his name and number at the council and said she would call him back.

When she realised he had given her a bogus number she knew she had escaped being conned out of hundreds of pounds.

She said: “They have timed it quite well because the new council tax bills will be dropping on people’s mats this month wont they?

“I just think people ought to be warned. We live in a community and we al have to look out for one another and help protect each other from people like this.”

A council spokesman said: "This is an increasingly common scam.

"Nobody should reveal their bank details, or any other personal details, to somebody they don't know.

"We always advise that people ask to see a caller's identity. Council workers will always show their identity card, which carries a phone number, manned 24 hours, which can be called to check that the caller's genuine."

Have you been the victim of a scam? Call the Croydon Guardian on 0208 330 9559