Devon and Cornwall Police are currently investigating the theft of bank cards and a phone from Budleigh charity Seachange.

On February 20, between 07:50 and 8:10am, a man was seen in the car park of Seachange.

A member of staff believed the male to be an alarm engineer and allowed him access to the staff area. A short while later the victim realized their iPhone and bank cards had been stolen from their office.

Later that day a male purporting to be from the victim's bank has called Seachange and asked to speak to the victim as he had apprehended two girls trying to use her bank card in Salisbury.

The victim had already cancelled her bank cards and declined to give her personal banking details.

The suspect is described as a white male, approximately 6ft, wearing all-black clothing and a cap with no distinctive accent.

Police want to remind people to always check and challenge tradespeople, ask for ID and then contact the company to verify their identity before allowing access to your workplace or home.

Marc Jobson, manager of Seachange, told the Journal: "The cash that was inside the phone case was recovered in the car park, but the suspect still got away with the bank cards which were personal to the member of staff.

"It's an inconvenience that as a charity someone would target us, and its an invasion of our privacy that someone entered the staff-only part of our business and stole bank cards and a phone from a member of staff's handbag.

"When it happened, we circulated a message to other Budleigh traders to make them aware, but there were no other sightings or CCTV footage of the man. We have stepped up security by ensuring the staff area is locked when its empty."

If anyone has any information relating to this incident please email 101 or contact Crime Stoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting 50240041577