ELDERLY women were left shaken after bogus callers called at their homes in York and Selby.

Police are warning older people, and their friends and family, to be on their guard and not answer the door to strangers.

In the latest incidents, a man called on a woman in her seventies on D’Arcy Road, Selby, at about 4.45pm on December 17.

He got in through an unlocked door and claimed he needed to speak to her. She told him to go away which he did.

Shortly afterwards a man visited a woman in her 70s on Parkin Avenue, Selby. He claimed to be checking the water supply and needed to get into her house. She refused and shut her door. Nothing was taken, but both victims were very shaken.

In a previous incident reported in York on December 12 two men targeted a man in his nineties on Broadway, claiming to be from the water board. After entering his home, they demanded money before leaving.

York PC Shannon Stanton said: “Targeting elderly and often vulnerable people in this way is cowardly and deplorable.”

Anyone with information should phone North Yorkshire Police on 101, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.