RESIDENTS are being urged to ignore calls from people offering them a quick get-rich scheme.
Warrnambool policewoman Senior Constable Shannon Kavenagh said she had been contacted by three or four people in the past week complaining about the calls.
Senior Constable Kavenagh said the caller urged the person answering the phone to deposit several hundred dollars into a bank account and they would receive nearly $4000 in return.
"Under no circumstances should people be giving out their account details or sending off money, even if the callers sound professional."
She suggested people, particularly the elderly, should speak to the police or a family member about the legitimacy of any request if they were concerned or confused.
Warrnambool's Gayle Payne immediately became suspicious about the scam after receiving a call from a man saying he worked with the Money Saving Experts company.
He told Mrs Payne that he was employed to recover money from bank clients who had been overcharged and said she had $3647 owing.
He then said she had to go to the nearest post office with identification and ring another phone number from there.
Mrs Payne said she was convinced it was a scam and didn't do anything further until she noticed she had two missed calls from the second phone number.
Her phone then rang again and she was told by a woman that she needed to deposit $290 into an account for the Australian government and she would immediately receive her $3647 plus the $290.
Mrs Payne said she wrote down as many details as she could and reported the incident to police in the hope of warning others.