POLICE have asked people to be aware of a “distressing” scam, after a man received a call on his wife’s mobile from a fraudster claiming he was a doctor and his wife had been in a car accident.

North Yorkshire Police say the man from the Northallerton area had answered a call from what appeared to be his wife’s mobile phone number.

On answering, a man with a foreign-sounding accent introduced himself as a doctor from the Friarage Hospital and stated his wife had been in a car accident and required emergency surgery.

The caller went on to say the procedure she required was not covered under NHS budgets and requested bank details to release £300.

The man who had received the call stated he would make his way to the Northallerton hospital immediately and so the caller hung up.

He then called his wife’s number back, who answered fit and well.

Police believe the scammers used sophisticated methods to link two mobile numbers together, but the scammers failed to secure the man’s bank details. The incident was referred to Action Fraud and North Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit.