Customers of a personal alarm service are being advised to stay vigilant against fraud after a user received calls from someone pretending to represent the service.

The warning has been made to customers of the HEARS personal alarm service in Suffolk, who are being reminded not to give out bank details over the telephone.

A customer contacted HEARS staff at its Ipswich Borough Council headquarters on Tuesday, reporting they had received calls from someone pretending to be from the service. In both cases, the caller sought bank details, claiming they were needed to buy a new pendant.

A spokesman said: “We want to make customers aware that we would never phone them up and ask for bank details. This is a cruel fraud and we have reported it to the police.”

HEARS is a service for people in the Ipswich, Felixstowe, Woodbridge and Stowmarket areas.