CON ARTISTS sent a letter to a woman in her sixties telling her she had won the Euromillions lottery in a bid to get their hands on her cash.

Beverley Hill, 60, of Hambro Close, Rayleigh, is warning residents not to fall prey to the suspected scam, after a letter landed on her doorstep.

The writers said they were “delighted” to inform her she had won £700,000 in the Euromillions International Postcode Lottery Program – but no such lottery exists.

To begin claiming the cash, she was asked to hand over her bank details to Waterloo Financial Consultants by June 20, otherwise the cash would be returned to the “UK Board of Internal Revenue”.

She said: “It’s sick that these people are around and doing this.

“They knew my name and my address. My daughter looked online at this and found lots of people have reported it.

“If an old person got hold of this letter theymight give their details away.”

Her warning comes as detectives urge residents to be constantly on guard against fraudsters posing as police officers following a series of thefts and attempted thefts.

Residents in Essex have been receiving phone calls from scammers pretending to be police, telling them their bank details had been obtained by thieves. To obtain evidence against the tricksters they asked their victims to hand over bank cards and withdraw cash for forensic testing.

More than 120 people in Essex have been tricked out of money, with a whopping £400,000 stolen so far.

Police advise residents to never hand out bank account details or PIN numbers over the phone, never withdraw money and send it to people via a courier, taxi or other means, and never send bank cards or other personal property via a courier, taxi, or other means.

If residents feel suspicious, call the police on 101. If they were contacted via the phone, either call from a different number or wait five minutes before attempting to make the call to ensure they are not reconnected to the offender.