A council in Buckinghamshire has warned residents of fake profiles wrongly naming them as winners of a Christmas competition.

Scammers have been messaging residents in Aylesbury on Facebook, tricking them into passing over their bank details by wrongly naming them as winners of a Countdown to Christmas giveaway competition.

A spokesperson for Aylesbury Town Council, the body behind the competition, cautioned residents against the scammers in a post on its Facebook page.

They wrote: "We have been made aware of fake profiles contacting residents via Facebook about being a winner of the Countdown to Christmas competition.

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"We would like to reiterate that we will be drawing winners (on the) week commencing January 1 and we will make direct contact (with) these winners through Facebook Messenger using our Facebook profile only.

"If you are contacted by a different profile, this is not us so please do not click on any links. We would never ask for any personal bank details from you."