People are being warned to be on their guard against text messages that appear to be from the Post Office - but are in fact a scam.

Andy Hugill, a digital PCSO for North Yorkshire Police, issued the alert warning people of the messages, which purport to be about a delivery.

He said: "This text message includes a link to a scam website which asks for payment.

"Royal Mail and Post Office are two different companies and Royal Mail is responsible for delivering mail. Therefore, Post Office will never advise that it cannot deliver an item."

Anyone who receives the scam message is urged to forward the text to 7726, which is free of charge. If that number doesn’t work, you can find out how to report a text message by contacting your phone provider.

Alternatively, you can take a screenshot or screen recording of the text message and send it to the National Cyber Security Centre at: report@phishing.gov.uk.