Scammers are calling Huddersfield homes claiming to offer telephone preference services that stop cold callers.

But they were caught out by one quick-witted woman who saw through their attempts to get her credit card details.

Now Hazel Joyce has warned other people who receive similar calls not to give away financial information.

Her advice: “Hang up straight away.”

Mrs Joyce, of Grange Moor, had three calls from the same company. The most recent culminated in a conversation with a woman who neither identified herself nor the company she represented.

Would you recognise a phone scam?
Would you recognise a phone scam?

“She passed me onto her manager who sounded like a man called Simon who called me previously. His voice had a foreign twang.

“He told me I’d had a telephone preference service before and did I want to reactivate it. He went on to say that I could pay by direct debit but that my card had run out.

“At first I wouldn’t go any further with it but I kept thinking about it. When they rang me back I wondered how far they would go.”

The mystery caller asked Mrs Joyce for what he described as her “activation code” - actually her sort code - on her debit card and invited her to confirm when the card expired.

“He asked for the numbers under my name,” she said. “I knew the next thing he’d want would be my account number.

“I put the phone down and he rang me back. He wasn’t letting go at all.”

Mrs Joyce, 70, said the calls came from a UK number with the code 01855. She was able to clarify that they didn’t have her correct details, particularly which company provided her telephone line.

“These people are so crafty,” she said. “He was on the phone to me for over 10 minutes. My advice to others is this: don’t let them chat you into anything. I’ve had a friend who was scammed. I don’t want it to happen to anyone else.”