HAMPSHIRE farmers and bed and breakfast owners are being warned that fraudsters are set to target subsidy payments made by the EU next week.

Businesses and organisations which use farmland will receive significant funds through the Single Payment Scheme as part of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy.

And Financial Fraud Action (FFA) UK, a financial services industry body, says fraudsters are aware of the scheme and can make use of publicly available information to target businesses.

This type of scam has been uncovered before and over the past two years farmers across the UK have become victims of deception crimes, with costs running into the hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Katy Worobec, director of FFA UK, said: "Farmers need to be on high alert over the next few weeks as they are much more likely to be a target of phone fraudsters.

"Many will receive significant funds through the EU’s Single Payment Scheme, and the fact that this is a well known annual payment means that criminals have focused on how to launch attacks at the list of recipients.

"Be immediately suspicious if you get a call and you are asked to give out personal or financial information, or asked to transfer money into other accounts. If in doubt, hang up the phone, leave it five minutes so that the call has definitely terminated and then ring back the organisation the caller claims to be from, but on a number that you know and trust."

The organisation has issued a range of advice to help businesspeople stay safe and says they should be particularly wary of phone contact and cold callers.

No-one should ever ask for your pin or card security number or ask you to transfer money to another account, and this information should not be given out.

Criminals may already have basic information about the people they are calling so it is dangerous to assume a call is genuine because they have these details.