Four people have fallen prey to a lottery scam that has seen them lose £50,000 worth of valuables in under a month.

In recent weeks fraudsters have been targeting people in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, including one person in Watford, prompting a police warning over fake lottery win claims.

The victims, who are typically men of South Asian heritage, are approached in the street by two men pretending to have a winning ticket that they could not claim for immigration reasons.

A third man then calls claiming to be from the National Lottery, before the fraudsters offer to split the winnings if the victim cashes a ticket – but they have to leave cash and jewellery as a deposit.

Outlining what happened in the Watford ruse, a Herts Police spokesperson said: “The victim has got into the vehicle of an unidentified man under the impression that the man had lottery winnings to collect worth £150k.

“However, the man needed the victim’s help as he was a foreign national and so unable to claim the winnings.

“The victim was dropped off at The Pond Post Office and when they went inside the suspect/s have driven off with victim’s mobile phone still inside the car.”

Officers believe no money changed hands on this occasion.

Detective Sergeant Greg Davenport, of Bedfordshire Police’s Force Intelligence Bureau, said: “These incidents happened in Greyfriars in Bedford, Marsh Road in Luton as well as in Watford and Potters Bar. But they all have very similar methodology.

“We clearly would like to hear from anyone who has information about these incidents but it is also really important that people are aware of this scam and on their guard.”

One of the men is described as Eastern European, the other of South Asian heritage.