Householders were today warned to be on guard against mystery callers asking for credit card details.

The advice comes after a man with an American accent phoned the home of Pudsey man Clive Parker, telling his wife she had won a holiday in Orlando, Florida.

Mr Parker said the man told his wife Pauline that he knew she had recently been to America and has certain credit cards.

"He said she had won this holiday but he needed to verify her identity," Mr Parker said.

"He told her he knew the first number of her credit card was 4 and he asked her to tell him the rest of the numbers so he could match them with the ones he had."

His wife refused and put the phone down.

"What worries us is we are ex-directory and they had our name and seemed to know quite a bit about us."

West Yorkshire Trading Standards spokesman Bruce McKay said it was the first case of its kind brought to his attention and he added: "This is a rather sinister incident I am concerned about it.

"Our advice would be never disclose your credit card number to anybody you do not intend to do business with."

A spokesman for the West Yorkshire Police credit card section said a large number of credit card numbers started with the number four.

"People should never give credit card details over the phone to anyone who rings them up on spec like this - you would be very ill-advised," he said.

Anyone who has had similar calls is asked to contact their local police station.

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