A Richmond care home held a workshop to share key tips on how elderly residents can avoid being scammed.

Last week's talk at Lynde House, ran by the Met Police and Natwest Community Banking, explored how scams are disguised and can occur in person, by phone, email, post and even social media.

Guests also shared their personal experiences of scamming and how they were able to recover from the incidents.

General Manager of the home, Alison McIntosh, said: “We know that scammers often target the elderly because they can be more trusting, and easy targets because they are not aware of all of the technology tricks that scammers often use.

"We wanted to use the workshop to make sure our residents as well as friends from within the community were better informed on scamming tricks, and to know that support is always here at Lynde House as well as with the local police.”

Research published in June last year found that almost a third of elderly victims of fraud have been too embarrassed to tell their own families or friends what happened to them.

The report from the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies warned of the "stigma" felt by elderly people about being cheated, including online scams.

Lynde House, which is run by Barchester Healthcare, provides nursing care for 76 residents from respite care to long term stays.