SUSPECTED scammers have been calling people in Witney posing as members of the town council.

The town council said it knew of about 50 people who been targeted by people claiming to be from the authority and from the NHS, asking people if they had suffered a recent accident.

The incidents have been reported to Action Fraud as civic leaders fear scammers will try to get money from the people they are calling.

Witney Town Council’s mace bearer Nick Buckle was one of the people called.

He received two nuisance calls in the last week and was able to record one.

Mr Buckle, 41, served as a town councillor from 2007 to 2015 and recently took up the ceremonial role of carrying the council’s symbol of power.

Ironically father-of-three Mr Buckle knows all the staff at Witney Town Council very well, so knew immediately he was being scammed.

Mr Buckle said: “He was a man with a foreign-sounding voice who claimed to be from Witney Town Council.

“I knew he wasn’t and I saved the conversation to my phone. I said I was going to record him.

“He asked me if I had had an accident in 2012.

“He wouldn’t take no for an answer, even though I told him I knew all the councillors and the staff.

“I would say he was calling from a home because there was a child screaming in the background.

“Theses people are scum, absolute scum, because someone a bit more naive could have got conned and ended up losing money.”

Mr Buckle said he suspects the callers would have gone on to demand money in return for investigating an accident claim.

The council has warned people not to respond to the scam calls.

Town council spokeswoman Polly Innes said staff had received about 50 complaints from people who were victims of the calls and said other people in the town could have been contacted.

She said: “In some cases, the callers were abusive when people said they didn’t have accident claims.

“Most people they spoke to said they didn’t give any details but some people are more likely to be taken in than others. It’s a bit of a mystery. Who knows how they select who they call?

“It’s horrible and nasty that they are targeting people in this way.”

Ms Innes investigated the bogus number and found that it had been used to contact people by callers claiming to be from councils in Lancashire and Middlesbrough.

The scam number is 0208 235 2355.

Anyone who receives a scam call should report it on 0300 123 2040.

A recording of a scam call trying to fleece money in Witney:

listen to ‘Oxford Mail talk about Witney scam call’ on Audioboom