Dyfed Powys Police is urging people in Pembrokeshire to be vigilant to bogus callers who try and trick people into revealing their bank details over the telephone.

There have been several reports of such incidents in the county over the last month. The latest occurred in Narberth, when a woman received a call from someone claiming to be from Pembrokeshire County Council.

The caller, had the woman's full name, and told her she was eligible for a substantial rebate on her council tax and asked for her bank details to arrange the refund.

When the woman refused and requested a cheque, the caller claimed the rebate was payable via a bank only. The woman declined and terminated the call and later reported the call to the police.

PCSO Nick Pambianchi said: "The member of the public was vigilant and did the right thing by not revealing any personal or banking details and reporting the incident to police straight away.

"I'd like to remind people that they should never reveal any personal data or banking details to any caller who they can't verify the identity of. If you're suspicious of the authenticity of a cold caller, you should ask for the name of the organisation they're calling from, the department, their name and job title, and tell them you will call them back.

"You should then source a telephone number for that organisation from a source you know to be genuine and accurate and call them to verify the caller's details. If this reveals that the call is bogus you should report it to the organistion the bogus claimed to be calling from and also inform the police immediately."

Kerry Macdermott, Pembrokeshire County Council's head of revenue services, agreed with the advice from Dyfed Powys Police.

He said: "Customers will always receive advance notice of the existence of any council tax overpayment as the authority will send the customer a council tax credit notice."

In other instances, people have complained to police of pushy sales tactics adopted by some genuine companies, while this is not a criminal or police matter, Anthony Crowdie, of Dyfed Powys Police's customer service unit has this advice. He said: "You can request to have a Telephone Preference Service, which will prevent cold calls; you could also speak with your telephone provider to arrange for specific telephone numbers to be blocked.

"If you need further advice you should contact Trading Standards or Consumer Direct who can best offer advice on civil matters and disputes."

PCSO Pambianchi said: "Cold callers tend to target the elderly and vulnerable but if people remain vigilant and remember never to hand out personal data or bank details to cold callers whose identity they can't authenticate then they should avoid falling victim to these types of scams."