The call purported to come from the British Council offering a rebate as I had always paid my council tax on time, had never declared bankruptcy and had not been in trouble with he police. She was therefore to receive a cheque from the British Council for a large sum of money. The caller then asked about our method of council tax payment, was it with cash or by direct debit? Caro replied that as the caller knew so much about her that she was surprised that she needed to ask for that information. The caller then got very tetchy, said she had another call and would ring back. So far she has not done so.

I suspect, but don’t know, that the next step might have been to say that the money would be paid by electronic transfer and for this to happen they would need our bank details. We have alerted our bank in case there is any unusual activity.