DETECTIVES say they have uncovered a massive credit card fraud centred on Blackburn.

Police believe conmen could have raked in hundreds of thousands of pounds from unsuspecting residents in East Lancashire.

A probe into the fraud has been launched but police believe they have just scraped the surface of a massive scam.

And detectives based in Blackburn have sent out a warning to people not to hand over credit card details to three companies. The fraudsters have been advertising flights and mobile phones at cheap prices.

But when people ring up and hand over their credit card details they receive nothing in return.

And the conmen, believed to be a ring of organised criminals, have been using the credit card details to buy thousands of pounds worth of goods from catalogues and mail order companies.

Adverts have been placed in newspapers and magazines across Lancashire. The crooks contacted the Lancashire Evening Telegraph but the adverts were not carried after suspicions were raised.

The criminals have been advertising under the names Flights International, International Flights and Pocket Phones.

When police investigated the three companies and phone numbers they discovered they were fakes. Local addresses given were unoccupied and the phone numbers used were diverted to mobile telephones.

A spokesman for Blackburn CID said: "We are warning people not to place any bookings with any of these companies.

"This is a large scale fraud and so far scores of people have contacted us to complain.

"So far we have looked at frauds involving at least £20,000 but we are pretty sure this is just the tip of the iceberg."

Any victims of the fraud are being urged to contact Blackburn CID as soon as possible on 01254 51212.

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