People are being warned of calls coming from a fictional police officer.

A police spokesman said: ‘Police are receiving reports of members of the public receiving calls from a person claiming to be PC 03 Armstrong who is fictitious.

‘Although we will on occasions contact people by phone, if you are in any doubt that the person you are speaking to is a police officer, or just want to confirm they are genuine, we will always be happy for you to contact them directly through the police switchboard on 631212.’

Isle of Man Today also received reports of a similar scam call being made which showed up with the caller ID of 631212, the genuine police number.

In this call, the scammer claimed to be the fictional ‘Sgt Marshall’.

A police spokesperson said that if the police did contact someone by phone it would read as ‘no caller ID’, and that it is possible that scammers had been able to set up a line which impersonates the genuine Manx police number.

Last month it was revealed that scammers were impersonating Tynwald members on social media.

At the time, Joe Chamberlain, cyber intelligence and information governance support officer at OCSIA said: ‘It’s likely that there will be more instances of impersonation of public figures in the future.

’The message we wanted to present is that scammers will impersonate anyone they believe people will trust, whether this is a business, minister or a known local figure.

‘We urge people to independently verify who they are talking to and report any concerns to us at OCSIA.’