Competition entrants hoping to win a private tour of Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park and other prizes have been targeted by scammers asking for credit card details.

The park in Wherstead on the edge of the Shotley peninsula, issued a warning after hundreds of people looking to enter the competition, which also offered a year's free membership and a two-course lunch as prizes, were immediately contacted by criminals looking to take their money.

A spokesperson for Jimmy's Farm and Wildlife Park responded In a social media post saying: "Please stay safe everyone, there are unfortunately some horrible people out there pretending to be us asking for bank details.  

"Just to reiterate: The winner will be drawn after the film has aired on 19th October.

"We will only contact the winner in the comments of this post and ask them to message us. We will not private message you directly. Please ignore any communication that has not come from this page as it will be a scam."

The competition was to mark the launch of a new film, detailing the story of the park's biggest rescue to date.

Entrants were told the winner will be drawn after the film has aired on 19th October and the tour and lunch will be organised at a mutually agreeable date before 1 April 2024.

The park made clear the winner would only be contacted in the comments of the post on their Facebook page who would be asked to message the organisers.

People would not be messaged directly and to ignore any communication that did not come from the page as it would be a scam.

However, an unknown number of people are understood to have given details.

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