A RESTAURANT owner in North Yorkshire has been conned into buying “dummy” iPhones, leading to police sending out a warning.

Two men offered to sell the owner of the Scarborough restaurant two iPhone 5Ss last Thursday, with a price being agreed and the buyer checking they were working.

The phones were then swapped for fakes while he was concentrating on counting the money.

It was only after the conmen had left with £280 that the restaurateur realised he had been tricked.

The men are white, in their mid-20s, about 5ft 6ins tall and spoke with Eastern European accents.