Lewisham residents are being warned not to answer the door to cold callers following a series of incidents where victims have been targeted by burglars posing as police officers.

Detectives are investigating reports of two suspects who knocked at the door of an elderly resident and claimed they were investigating fraud and money offences and needed to see any cash being kept at the address.

In two cases, victims have not handed over money to the male suspects but one resident had £400 stolen on October 7.

The men are described as white and are said to have been wearing suits and shown victims what they believe were police ID badges.

No arrests have been made at this stage.

Lewisham's Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit Detective Inspector Jenny Di Fabio said: “Bogus callers tend to target vulnerable members of the community and often this means elderly people.

“Although there are still relatively few victims of this type of crime, it can have an enormous impact on their lives if it happens so we want people to be aware and take simple steps to prevent it from happening.”

She added: “If you've got any vulnerable or elderly friends or family, then please make them aware of our advice so that they don't fall foul of this type of scam.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Lewisham's Serious Acquisitive Crime Unit via 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.