A fraud victim described how convincing con artists scammed his family out of £12,000.

The Steeple Bumpstead man, his wife and their daughter were duped into handing over debit and credit cards to a fraudster posing as a police officer.

The victims, who did not wish to be identified, were called at about 7.30pm on March 30, Mother's Day.

A Det Sgt Rogers claimed criminals had tried to buy a Rolex watch in Oxford Street, London, using the 59-year-old man's card.

Knowing there had been publicity about bogus policemen, the victim said: "I said 'how do I know you're not a fraudster?'

"This guy was really, really good and I'm fairly cautious when it comes to anything like this."

But the conman was so convincing - even giving the victim phone numbers to call that seemed legitimate but were not - that the man was drawn in by his story.

* Read the full story in today's Halstead Gazette.