A HUDDERSFIELD businessman has fallen victim to a sophisticated sting.

Now, police have urged others to be careful, in case the criminal tries to strike again.

The 55-year-old victim was at work at a big Huddersfield company at 1pm on Wednesday when he was phoned by someone who claimed to be from the NatWest Bank in Stockport.

The crook said someone was drawing cash out of the victim's account at the Stockport bank at that moment and asked if the withdrawals had been authorised.

The victim said they were not, but then realised his wallet was missing.

He told the man on the phone, who then asked him several personal "security" questions.

The man gave the impression that these questions would be used to quiz the person taking money from the bank and that the police had been told and were on their way to the bank.

The man told the victim he would phone him back to let him know what had happened.

The victim waited an hour and was just about to contact Stockport police when a genuine bank fraud officer phoned him to ask if he knew money had just been taken from his bank account in Huddersfield.

The thief had stolen several hundred pounds.

Sgt Tim O'Sullivan, of Huddersfield police, said: "This was a very professional con and had clearly been well planned.

"He must have stolen his wallet and discovered where he worked, along with his bank details.

"He then rang him up to trick him into giving the kind of information the bank may have asked them when he started to withdraw the money."

Sgt O'Sullivan added: "We would urge other people to be aware what is going on.

"If they get a call like this from a bank, take their number and check it in the phone book before phoning them back."