Pensioners in Ayrshire have been conned into handing over large amounts of cash by cruel phone scammers.

Cops are trying to track down the criminals after two of the elderly targets were tricked into handing over four-figure sums of money.

The fraudsters told three of their targets to withdraw money from their banks on the understanding it would later be collected by “police officers”.

The victims were contacted by phone on January 5 by someone claiming to be from the bank, or the police, and advised that there was fraudulent activity on their accounts.

The three people, aged 80, 82 and 74, were told to attend at their bank and withdraw the cash on the instruction that a police officer would later attend and collect the money.

All three – two men and one woman – went to their bank to withdraw the cash, but one man reported the activity to bank staff and the police were contacted.

Unfortunately, the other man and the woman lost a significant amount of money.

Chief Inspector Kevin Lammie said: “I want to highlight this scam to everyone and remind them there are fraudsters out there.”