Police are warning people about a telephone scam which has been reported across Northamptonshire.

At this time of year local councils send out electoral renewal registration forms to every household the country.

Fraudsters have picked up on this and have started cold calling residents pretending to be from their Local Council Electoral Registration Office.

They start by accusing the householder of not returning their forms but reassure them it won’t a problem if they give their details over the telephone.

The fraudster then asks for details of who is living at the address followed by requests for personal information for example, how long they have lived at their address, age, date of birth and details of employment. None of this information is required for electoral registration.

Northants have examples of fraudsters applying for credit cards and store cards using this information.

Local council staff will occasionally telephone residents at their homes to recover information for the Electoral Register. They have ID’s or they can be checked by telephoning the Electoral registration Office via the councils’ central switchboard telephone number. They will not ask for any detailed information.

Det Insp David Edmondson, from the Thames Valley Economic Crime Unit, said: “Identity theft is the unlawful taking of another person’s details without their permission. The information stolen can be used to obtain many financial services goods and other forms of identification such as passports and driving licences.

“There is no evidence that this scam has been tried in the Thames Valley area, but the public should be aware of it and remember, if you receive a telephone call from a council, credit card company, bank or other retail company asking to confirm certain details about yourself decline them.

"Ask to call them back, preferably through a central switchboard telephone number from the phone book or directory service, not the telephone number the fraudster gives you.”