Residents in St Albans have been receiving letters claiming they are entitled to money following the death of an unknown relative.

Police have issued a warning for people to be wary of the letters, which state that the person receiving the letter are the next of kin of the bogus relative and that they must provide bank details for the money to be transferred.

Police officers are investigating this scam and Police Community Support Officer Hannah Bragg from the St Albans Safer Neighbourhood Team said: "Sometimes people can be caught unaware if they receive a letter out of the blue like this.

"These letters claim to be from foreign banks, holding thousands or millions of pounds in the name of a relative that you have never heard off.

"The aim of the scam is to make you divulge your back account details and if you respond they may well ask you to make a payment to help process the transfer of funds.

"These letters are purely scams, another method devised by fraudsters to get access to bank accounts.

"If you receive a letter like this which you are not expecting you should be suspicious.

"Do not follow the instructions in the letter but contact the police instead."

If you receive a letter making similar claims contact police via the non-emergency number, 101.