AN elderly man is warning local people to hang up on fake People's Postcode Lottery fraudsters.

John McCarthy, 80, was the latest target of a cold calling scam trying to convince people to hand over their personal bank details.

The alert senior citizen foiled the bid after the criminals who phoned him claiming that he had won hundreds of pounds.

Our sister title The Greenock Telegraph recently reported on a separate incident when the popular lottery game was used to try to trick people out of cash.

John, who is an active bowler and coaches children at the Gourock Park BC, sent the fraudsters packing - but is keen to raise the alarm over the con.

The Gourock man said: "I am worried that other older people could become a victim of this scam.

"They phoned me up and told me I had won £290, which is a reasonable amount and people might be taken in by that.

"I don't play the Postcode Lottery and they had also used my old address, so my guard was up right away.

"I kept them on the line to find out where they were going with it all and then they tried to put me through to someone else.

"At that point I just put the phone down, but I worry that other people could fall for it.

"You hear about it all the time - people sending their details by email or giving them to someone over the phone they think is trustworthy and they have money taken from their bank accounts."

In the other recently reported case, a woman from Braeside was contacted by callers claiming to be from the popular game.

When she refused to hand over her details, the caller turned nasty.

The People's Postcode Lottery says it is aware of such scam cases.

They told the Telegraph that they 'take reports of this nature very seriously and liaise with the relevant authorities closely'.