PEOPLE are being reminded to hang up on cold callers after a woman was scammed by con artists claiming to be from an Apple store.

Early yesterday evening (Wednesday, September 16), the 62-year-old woman, from Darlington, was called on her home phone.

They said a customer in the store had attempted to make £5,000 worth of transactions on her debit card, and that they would notify the woman’s bank.

She then received a further call, claiming to be from a fraud advisor at her bank asking her to transfer funds to a new account, for which details were provided.

Although she had reservations, the woman transferred more than £3,000 into the new account, before calling the police.

Despite being off duty, PC Tony Murray from Durham Police’s financial investigation team returned to work to get the bank to freeze the rogue account.

The victim then visited her bank earlier today (Thursday, September 17) where her money was transferred back into her genuine account, so she would not lose out.

PC Murray said: "Our advice is never transfer funds from your account at a request of a phone call, a bank will never call you to suggest this. Hang up on all cold callers and don’t do business on the phone that you have not instigated.

"The scammers sometimes keep the phone line open and ask you to call the police or the bank, the reality is that people are still talking to the fraudsters.

“We would suggest using a separate phone line to make the call, or call a family member or friend first, a voice you recognise to ensure the phone line is not compromised."

The rogue account is now being investigated by PC Murray and Action Fraud.