A young man from Barnet is part of a gang accused of stealing around £280,000 from pensioners in a string of phone scams.

The unnamed 22-year-old was arrested, along with four men from Camden, after Hertfordshire Constabulary and the Metropolitan Police executed warrants at six north London addresses.

Police say elderly victims in Hertfordshire and London were duped into withdrawing large sums of money from their accounts to be collected by a courier at a later date.

The callers claimed to be the police investigating fraudulent activity on the victims’ bank accounts.

Detective Sergeant Jon Leak, from Herts Police’s Operation Manhunt, said: “We have done a lot of work to raise awareness of these scams, but we need people to continue spreading the word to elderly friends, relatives and neighbours to help prevent more people falling victim to courier fraud.

“Please remember police and banks would never ask for your PIN over the phone and never ask you to withdraw cash and hand it to a courier.

“We will continue to do all we can to track down those suspected of being involved in courier fraud and to bring offenders to justice.

“If you receive a call you are suspicious of, please hang up and alert the police and remember to wait at least five minutes, or use a mobile phone to ensure you aren’t reconnected to the offender.”

Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of courier fraud is asked to report it to police via the non-emergency number 101.

All five men were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering on Tuesday, November 29 and released on police bail pending further investigation.