A kind member of the community is aiming to reimburse a elderly couple from Accrington who were conned out of their life savings by "bogus builders."

The couple, who live on Whalley Road, were targeted by conmen who falsely claimed their roof had been damaged by Storm Erik on Tuesday (February 12).

The "vulnerable" residents, who are in their 70s, were originally quoted £4,600 for the work, but agreed to pay a "discounted" price of £4,200 in cash.

However, no work has been carried out by the builders.

The daughter of the victims, who do not want to be named, claim they have been left "very shaken" and now feel unsafe in their home of 40 years.

A friend of the couple, Linda Benson, has now set up a GoFundMe page in the hope of reimbursing the money they lost from their life savings.

She is hoping that the community will come together and show the victims that there are still "good people" locally.

Linda said: "I’m a very close friend of them and trying to help.

"They are very shaken and upset by it all and also embarrassed that were conned so professionally.

"I am hoping the community will understand how awful this crime has been and how terrified the couple must be following this incident.

"I just want to try and retrieve some of their life savings back to make them see that there are lots of good people who want to support them in the local area."

The victims' daughter has described the offenders as "despicable vermin of society" and believes that her parents were targeted due to having a disabled bay outside of the house.

She said: "My dad is not very well and my mum is undergoing chemotherapy. It’s the last thing they need.

“There is a disabled bay outside the house and I think they have been targeted because they are vulnerable. I was heartbroken when I found out.

“At the end of the day it’s their life savings and some scumbags have taken advantage of them. It’s just sick.

"We hear about these things every day but they are of the generation where they are not on Facebook or the internet and don’t know about all the police warnings.

“When somebody turns up on their doorstep with a plausible explanation they take them at their word. My mum sees the best in everybody.

“They have been there for around 40 years and now they are scared of living in their own home.”

The offenders knocked on the victims’ door at around 11am and claimed to have noticed damage to their roof while doing building work in the area.

The daughter, who lives in Accrington , said her parents had previously paid for roof repairs in November last year and the conmen claimed they had done a ‘botch job’ and stole lead flashing.

PC Dave Render, of Hyndburn Police, has launched an appeal to find the offenders and warned other residents in the borough to remain vigilant.

He said: “Bogus builders have conned this elderly couple out of their life savings. They said it would cost £4,200 which is a complete joke because they have not done any work.

“It’s absolutely disgusting how these people have targeted elderly and vulnerable people.”

Anyone with information should call Lancashire Police on 101 quoting crime reference 04/36357/19.

If you would like to make a donation, or find out more about the fundraising appeal, click here .