A recent report has been received by the police that a man wearing local government ID has been knocking on doors and offering to buy gold.

The man says he is a jeweller and that the council is charging too much rent so in the mean time they were going door to door to buy gold.

The man shows to householders examples of gold he has allegedly purchased from other residents.

This is a scam.

No Halton Council or housing association representative has been authorised to do this.

Halton Borough Council’s Executive Board Member for Trading Standards, Cllr Dave Cargill, said: “Halton Borough Council advice is not to deal with people on your doorstep and not to open the door.

“If you do open the door, politely explain that you don’t deal with doorstep callers, close the door and report the incident to Cheshire Police on 101. ”

Halton Council provides ” No Cold Calling” window cards free of charge. These can be obtained by contacting Halton Trading Standards on trading.standards@halton.gov.uk.

If you or somebody you know has been caught out by a fraud please contact one of our specialist officers, Linda or Sue on 0151 511 8785 or 0151 511 8775, who are already working with people in Halton who have lost thousands of pounds to scams.

If you need advice on anything else please contact the Citizens Advice Consumer Helpline or 03454 04 05 06