Fraudsters conned a doctor into giving credit card details over the phone after his wallet had been stolen in a burglary.

In what detectives described as an "elaborate" fraud, the man's sports bag, containing wallet and credit cards, was taken sometime between 8am and 5.30pm on Monday, February 16, from a staff room at the Churchill Hospital, in New Road, Headington.

Before he noticed the theft, the Department of Urology physician received a phone call from a woman claiming to be from NatWest Bank's card loss department saying his card had shown uncharacteristic usage, and asking if he still had it.

However, the woman was not a genuine NatWest employee and asked the man for his credit card security and pin numbers, which he gave her - allowing thieves involved in the deception to withdraw £1,000 cash. He then received a genuine call from NatWest's card loss department about an unusually high amount of cash withdrawn on his card.

Dc Stewart Codling, of Oxford police's burglary team, said: "It seems quite elaborate. Genuine banks will never ever ask for the card's security number or the pin.

"All they will say is that there has been some unusual activity on your card and did you use it at a particular time. They don't need any security numbers to stop the card."

Dc Codling said police had not previously heard of such a scam operating in Oxford, but he said it was not likely to be a one-off and other victims may not have reported problems to police.

Anyone with information about theft or credit card fraud should call Oxford police on 08458 505505, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.