A TEAM of conmen is targeting elderly residents in north Durham, police warned last night.

The bogus officials, posing as water company workers, tricked their way into the homes of two pensioners in one day.

Sergeant Max Newby of Durham Constabulary said: "We know there are teams, not just individuals, who go from area to area, preying on the elderly. It is sickening when people are deliberately targeted, purely because they are vulnerable."

Three men called at the home of an elderly man in South Moor, near Stanley, last Friday.

They convinced him to let them in after claiming a water main had burst in the street and stole £800.

Later that day, two men, using the same story, conned an 80-year-old woman in Coxhoe, near Durham and made off with her pension book.

In West Pelton, near Chester-le-Street, the same three men tried to fool another pensioner with the burst water main story. But the occupant became suspicious and challenged the men, who left empty handed.

In east Durham, three homes were targeted on Monday.

The first took place at about 1.30pm in Percy Street, Wheatley Hill. An elderly woman challenged a man she found in her kitchen and he left.

Later that day, thieves stole £250 from an elderly couple in Albert Street North, Thornley.

In the last incident, youths stole £200 from a woman who was alerted by a noise when she was in her garden and saw someone leaving her house.

Sgt Newby said: "People should not let a stranger into their homes, unless they can prove their identity.

"And don't keep large sums of money in the house - the cash is far safer in a bank or building society account."

Last year, The Northern Echo launched its Doorstoppers campaign to stamp out bogus callers in the region.

Anyone with information on the burglaries can contact police on 0845 606 0365.