A business owner is warning people not to fall for a convincing scam call from a fake bailiff.

Nadine Smith, 49, received a call from a man claiming to be a bailiff who told her she owed £3,500 after losing a court case against her business.

The bailiff asked if anyone was at the premises so he could collect the owed money or take items equalling the value.

Mrs Smith, from Wymondham, said: "I apparently owed a company called OMS Media money after failing to cancel a free trial for online advertising in 2017 and because I ignored their requests for the money, they took the case to court.

"He told me that because I didn't turn up, the court ruled in their favour.

"I was in complete shock, I knew nothing about it, but because it was from 2017 I thought maybe it could be true.

"But I had received nothing from the company or the court so I was a bit sceptical."

Mrs Smith asked the bailiff for proof and he gave her a court reference number and a phone number for Lincoln County Court.

Upon calling the number, Mrs Smith heard an official message saying she was through to the county court.

The 49-year-old said: "It sounded so official and convincing.

"The person on the phone told me that to give myself more time to contest the county court judgement I could pay a pre-enforcement settlement of £2,500."

When she called her husband, Mrs Smith realised it might be a scam and looked up the real number for the court - finding a number similar but not the same.

After calling the real Lincoln County Court, she was welcomed by the same message the fake number had used but was promptly told by the person working that this was a scam many people had contacted them about.

Mrs Smith said: "It felt so real because of how elaborate it was with the fake court number and I panicked because the bailiff said we had two hours."

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