Detective Sergeant Andrew McLean of Orange Police said a number of complaints have been received by police, but they lack jurisdiction in Australia to trace the calls as they are coming from an overseas centre.

One resident told the Central Western Daily when she received her call last week she kept the caller talking saying she would deposit the $198.00 at Orange Post Office into an account, however she needed a return phone number.

When the CWD called the number and the journalist identified themselves as writing a piece on the ‘scam’ the call centre terminated the call.

Detective Sergeant McLean said one of the key elements running through the complaints received by police was that the account release funds were to be deposited into a Western Union account number.

“If anyone gets a call like this alarm bells should ring,” Detective Sergeant McLean said.

“This type of scam surfaced about a year ago in Orange and at that time the calls were coming from Nigeria.

“But this time around it appears the calls are originating from Thailand.”

He said one Orange resident was so taken in by the scam they had deposited several amounts of money into the fraudulent organisation.

“Another technique these fraudsters use is to use a particular return phone number for a time and then have it disconnected and move on to use another number,” he said.

Detective Sergeant McLean said as the return phone number being handed out to potential victims of the scam started with an 02 number, it was leading people to believe the call was legitimate and had come from a capital city area in Australia.

He said police will be notifying Orange Post office that Orange residents are potential victims of the scam and are being asked to deposit money into a Western Union account.