BE warned bogus council tax officials are at work in the Test Valley.

Borough council officials say that criminals have set up a scam purporting to offer council tax refunds in a bid to tap into people’s banks accounts.

A TVBC spokesperson said that the authority was aware of four cases of the tax scam in the last four or five weeks. Each had been logged via their customer services section in Romsey or by Romsey Town Council.

“There has been one incident where a resident has given the caller their bank details and we advised them to immediately contact their bank,” said the spokesperson. “We are therefore looking to inform residents that this national scam is happening locally and to be very cautious of phone calls relating to council tax.”

Scammers pretending to work for the council are phoning residents telling them they have overpaid the council tax. The caller then requests bank details so they can go ahead with the refund.

The victim is then given another number to call which informs them they need to pay an administration fee to get the refund.

The council spokesperson warned residents not to be taken in by the scam.

“The council would never ring a resident to ask for bank details to issue a refund. If an overpayment had been made, and a refund is due, the money would be refunded directly if it had been paid by direct debit, or a cheque would be sent to the bill payer’s address,”she said.