A police hunt is on for a bogus charity collector who dressed as a penguin to collect cash in Wisbech.

Julie Bailey, Fenland’s crime reduction and community safety officer, said the bogus collector was spotted in Wisbech Market Place at 11am on Saturday.

“”He was dressed as a penguin with a white bucket and a paper hand written sign saying he was collecting for a cancer relief charity,” she said.

“It appears that he was not wearing any form of official ID and the bucket was open and not marked up with official charity marking.

“He was also witnessed to be approaching the elderly in particular.”

She said Cambridgeshire Police would like to remind members of the public, that official collectors will have a valid ID, a valid charity number and a tamper proof container.

“Please could you pass this out to your friends and family,” she said.

Ms Bailey added: “I would also ask if anybody was in Wisbech on Saturday and witnessed this individual collecting and is able to name him to please contact Cambridgeshire constabulary on the non emergency number 101 or call crime stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”

Ms Bailey is one of eight crime reduction and community safety officers employed by Cambridgeshire police.

She says her main role is to work with local community groups such as Neighbourhood Watch and to get in touch with victims of crime, visit them and carry out security surveys.

She said: “I work very closely with the local policing teams in Fenland and also our partner agencies to run crime prevention and safety events. I ensure the public are kept informed of what’s going on in the area and regularly put out crime prevention messages using the various social media channels such as eCops, Facebook and Twitter.”